Nato Allies have agreed to advance to the next phase of the Alliance Federated Surveillance and Control (AFSC) programme, aimed at integrating surveillance and tactical control across the alliance.
This move aims to prepare for the retirement of the current Airborne Early Warning and Control (AWACS) fleet in 2035.
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Announced on 25 February 2026, the decision marks a continued commitment to modernising Nato’s multi-domain surveillance capabilities.
The AFSC initiative, formerly known as Alliance Future Surveillance and Control, originated at Nato’s Warsaw Summit in 2016 due to evolving operational requirements.
The programme intends to connect Nato-owned, multinational, and national assets from ground, air, maritime, and space domains into a collaborative “system of systems”.
Both legacy equipment and new technologies, including uncrewed systems, will be part of this integration.
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By GlobalDataProgress towards this stage followed a development in January 2024, when the North Atlantic Council accepted a report from National Armaments Directors at the conclusion of the AFSC Concept Stage study phase.
This report defined the selected technical concept based on industry-led studies designed to meet AFSC capability requirements. It also set out recommendations for moving into the programme establishment phase.
The study phase ran from 2019 to December 2023, involving major industry groups and specialist companies from across Nato member states.
These teams collaborated on analysing varied capability needs and suggesting solutions to support Nato’s technical concept development for AFSC.
Initial steps under the new phase will focus on integrating assets such as the Alliance Ground Surveillance (AGS) fleet, its planned AWACS successor, and multinational contributions like Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS) into the AFSC framework.
Ongoing collaboration with industry will support tailored national and multinational developments aligned with intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance (ISR) and tactical control requirements.
Oversight of AFSC is provided by the Conference of National Armaments Directors (CNAD), with programme management and technical interoperability handled by the Nato Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA).
The Nato Communications and Information Agency adds further technical expertise while strategic guidance on military requirements comes from Nato’s Strategic Commands.
Governance includes all 32 Allies through NSPA’s dedicated AFSC Support Partnership.
In 2023, Saab proposed its GlobalEye aircraft for the AFSC programme.
