BERLIN/PARIS, July 2 (Reuters) - NATO plans to replace its

ageing fleet of AWACS aircraft with GlobalEye surveillance

planes from Sweden's Saab, four sources familiar with

the matter told Reuters, a move that could test uneasy relations

with U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has been pushing allies to purchase American weapons

and has repeatedly threatened to quit NATO, accusing European

nations of free-riding by leaving the U.S. to pay for the

continent's security.

The sources said NATO will announce the GlobalEye plans

during a meeting of its members in the Turkish capital Ankara on

July 7 and 8.

NATO did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Saab declined comment.

Acting like flying radar towers with their distinctive

nine-metre-wide radomes, NATO's 14 Airborne Warning and Control

System jets have been its eyes in the sky since 1982.

Based at Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany, the AWACS fleet

has been widely used for NATO surveillance missions along the

alliance's eastern flank since Russia launched its war in

Ukraine.

Under the replacement plan, the base may eventually become

home to the world's biggest fleet of GlobalEye surveillance

jets, the sources said. First flown in 2018, the system is based

on the Global 6500 business jet built by Canada's Bombardier

.

GlobalEye competes with Boeing's ( BA ) E-7 Wedgetail, an

early warning and command and control aircraft based on the 737

jetliner and designed to oversee and direct battle.

In 2025, NATO abandoned initial plans to purchase six Boeing

E-7 Wedgetail planes after its biggest customer, the Pentagon,

scrapped plans to buy 26 of them and rely more on satellites.

Under pressure from U.S. lawmakers, however, Defense

Secretary Pete Hegseth told a Congressional panel in May that

the Pentagon is pushing to add the plane back into the budget.