Global 6000
ICAO GLEXA long-range business jet that has become a favourite surveillance platform. Live Global Express and Global 6000 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30sAirframe
- Manufacturer
- Bombardier
- Role
- Government transport and special mission
- Class
- L2J — Landplane, 2 jet engines
- Crew
- 2 to 3
- First flight
- 13 October 1996
- In service
- 1999
Operators airborne
About the Global 6000
The Bombardier Global family was designed to fly a small number of people a very long way, and that combination — endurance, altitude and a large cabin — turned out to be exactly what a modern surveillance aircraft needs. The airframe now carries radars, signals intelligence suites and airborne early warning arrays for a growing list of countries.
Sweden's GlobalEye is the most ambitious of these, an airborne early warning aircraft on a business jet, sold to the United Arab Emirates and Sweden. Britain's retired Sentinel R1 used the same base airframe, and Germany flies Globals in both transport and special mission roles.
Plain government transports make up the rest. The GLEX designator covers the Global Express, 5000, 6000 and 6500, so civil examples appear as well.
Callsign prefixes
- GAF
- German Air Force
- SVF
- Swedish Air Force
- RRR
- Ascot — Royal Air Force
How to recognise it
- —A large business jet with a very long, slender wing and two rear-mounted engines.
- —Special mission aircraft carry obvious additions — a dorsal radar spine, belly canoe fairings, or extra aerials.
- —High and fast: routinely above 43,000 feet on long sectors.
Common questions
+ What is GlobalEye?
A Saab airborne early warning and control system fitted to a Bombardier Global 6000, with a long dorsal radar spine. Sweden and the United Arab Emirates operate it, and it does much of what an E-3 does from a far smaller aircraft.
+ Why are business jets used for surveillance?
They fly high, stay up a long time and cost far less per hour than a converted airliner. For carrying sensors and a few operators, that is a better fit than a large aircraft.
+ What is the difference between the Global Express and Global 6000?
Successive versions of the same aircraft, with more range and updated systems as the family developed. All report as GLEX.