Video that appears to show a Ukrainian-operated Saab 340 airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft in flight surfaced on March 20, 2026, representing what would be the first visual confirmation of the platform in Ukrainian service.
The footage, first posted to a Russian Telegram account, shows the aircraft in level daytime flight. Its distinctive “balance beam” radar fairing along the upper fuselage, the defining external feature of the S 100D Argus, as the aircraft is designated in Sweden, is clearly visible.
Ukrainian-language voices are audible in the background, countering assertions in the original post’s comment thread that the recording was made in Sweden. The date and location of the footage have not been independently verified, and SOFX cannot confirm the video has not been altered, though nothing immediately suggests it is inauthentic.
Russians are posting footage they claim shows likely a Swedish Saab 340 AEW&C long-range radar and control aircraft flying over Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/XkFZlok2B3
— WarTranslated (@wartranslated) March 20, 2026
Sweden announced the transfer of two S 100D Argus aircraft on May 29, 2024, as part of a 13.3 billion Krona ($1.3 billion) defense package that also included armored carriers and artillery ammunition. Swedish officials stated at the time that training Ukrainian aircrews and preparing ground infrastructure would require approximately one year.
Open-source flight tracking data indicated a possible radar aircraft flying circuits over the Lviv region in April 2025 under the callsign WELCOME. An aircraft carrying the same callsign had previously been tracked near Polish and Hungarian airspace, suggesting those earlier movements may have been post-delivery acceptance or calibration flights. Transponder data is subject to manipulation and can produce false tracks.
🇸🇪Saab 360 AEW&C airborne early warning and targeting aircraft “transferred” to #Kyiv & conducted its first test flight over the #Lviv region in western
🇺🇦#Ukraine pic.twitter.com/f9gMSDTM1S— C4H10FO2P ☠️ (@markito0171) April 21, 2025
The S 100D Argus is built around the Saab Erieye active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, which detects air and sea targets at ranges of up to roughly 280 miles while operating at around 20,000 feet.
Its lookdown capability allows detection of low-altitude threats without terrain masking, making it well suited to tracking Russian Kh-101 air-launched cruise missiles and Geran-type one-way attack (OWA) drones. Ukraine has never previously operated an AEW&C platform of any kind.
Operating the aircraft beyond western Ukraine would place it within range of Russian R-37M air-to-air missiles carried by Su-35S and Su-30SM fighters, making a western deployment the most likely operating area.
Whether Ukraine’s F-16s can receive targeting data from the Erieye via the NATO-standard Link 16 datalink remains unresolved, following reports that Link 16 systems on those fighters were removed or disabled over concerns they could be captured by Russian forces.
