Germany is preparing to award Saab and Northrop Grumman a contract worth around €1.2 billion ($1.3 billion) to upgrade its Eurofighter fleet, Bloomberg reported on September 22, 2025, citing government procurement documents.
According to Bloomberg, the contract covers Saab’s Arexis electronic warfare system and Northrop Grumman’s AGM-88E Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missiles (AARGM). These two capabilities have already been identified by Germany as the core components of its planned Eurofighter Typhoon Elektronischer Kampf (EK, electronic combat) variant.
Nuclear strike role goes to the F-35
Back in March 2022, the German Ministry of Defense told parliament it had selected the F-35A Lightning II as the successor to the Tornado in the nuclear strike mission, under NATO’s nuclear sharing arrangement. The F-35, to be delivered starting in 2026, will become the Luftwaffe’s designated carrier of the US-made B61 nuclear bombs stored in Germany.
A deterrent nuclear role typically requires support from electronic warfare aircraft to counter anti-access and area denial systems. At the same time as the F-35 decision, Berlin announced that 15 Eurofighter Typhoons would be procured in a new electronic combat configuration to assume the Tornado’s suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) mission. This variant, now known as the Eurofighter EK, is designed to provide jamming support and neutralize enemy radars, ensuring strike aircraft can penetrate contested airspace.
Building the Eurofighter EK
Official statements by the German defense procurement office, Airbus, and Saab have all previously noted that the EK jets will be fitted with the Arexis electronic warfare suite and AARGM anti-radiation missiles, enabling them to conduct suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD) missions for NATO from the 2030s.
The documents seen by Bloomberg also cited contributions from Helsing, a Munich-based company that has previously partnered with Saab on integrating artificial intelligence into combat aircraft. Helsing made headlines earlier in 2025 when its AI agent, Centaur, was successfully integrated into a Saab Gripen E fighter in test flights over the Baltic Sea, taking partial control of the aircraft in simulated air-to-air combat.
Parliamentary approval pending
The procurement documents cited by Bloomberg have not been made public, and the German Ministry of Defense has yet to comment on the reported award.
Bloomberg noted that the Eurofighter EK deal is part of a broader set of defense procurements that Defense Minister Boris Pistorius plans to bring before parliament this year, with lawmakers scheduled to decide on the package in early October 2025.
This reported deal highlights deepening defense ties between Germany and Sweden, at a time when Berlin’s collaboration with Paris on the Future Combat Air System (FCAS) has been strained by delays and disagreements over industrial leadership.
