Speaking during the 2014 Farnborough International Airshow, Saab CEO Hakan Buskhe expressed confidence about his company's future. Despite having suffered from the aftermath of the financial crisis, SAAB did well during 2013 and has an even better profit perspective for 2014. Although the US defence market is on a downturn, Canada continues to spend on defence and the overall North America market is stable according to Buskhe. Large parts of Europe "spend more on people in uniform, than on equipment," he said while expecting to see an increase in defence spending in the Nordic countries, in no small part due to the effects of the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Asia, especially China and India, and the MENA countries meanwhile show "a big growth in defence spending. However, due to increased competition from Russian, Chinese, Indian and South Korean companies, Asia does not offset the effects of reduced spending in Europe and the US."
Discussing Saab's GRIPEN combat aircraft, Buskhe expressed understanding for the intricacies of the Swiss political system as it was the outcome of a referendum that blocked the proposed deal for 22 GRIPENs for the Swiss Air Force: "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Together with armasuisse, we had worked out a major framework agreement which would lead us to cooperate with as many as 135 companies we had detected. However, we will now continue to work with most of them as long as they maintain their competitiveness as it is no subsidy money." He continued: "Even if we take away the 22 aircraft intended for Switzerland, we still have 36 aircraft for Brazil and 60 and a further 10 for Sweden. Our aim is to sell 400 GRIPEN E, F aircraft in the next ten years and we think that can be done. We continue to see interest for our Sea GRIPEN design while we are also working on an optionally piloted GRIPEN."
Speaking about Brazil, Buskhe said: "We see great possibilities to do things there and this could include final assembly and weapons integration. Recently, we agreed we will together on a new Gripen two-seater. Brazil has a very skilled aerospace workforce. However, we will also maintain our presence in Sweden."
"Our roots are in the air domain and we consolidated a large part of the Swedish defence industry as the Cold War ended. However, Saab is too big for the domestic market now and our products need to have an international footprint as today 75% of our order backlog is outside Sweden," Buskhe continued. Speaking about SAAB's expertise, he mentioned GRIPEN and ERIEYE while telling that his company had "launched a new radar platform a couple of weeks ago." Working on SKELDAR, the Swedish company is also taking part in the Neuron unmanned technology programme. Meanwhile SAAB is involved in land systems and in naval C2, fire control, weapons, sensors and platform programmes including in submarines since the recent acquisition of Kockums: "We have 250 vessels around the world that use our systems including RBS15 which also has air and land applications. We will take part in upgrading Sweden's current submarines and will also develop a new class as Sweden will go from four to five submarines."
Ongoing projects are the MS20 upgrade for GRIPEN C, D, this including the integration of the Meteor missile. Buskhe explained: "Due to new sensors and avionics these aircraft will fly for another 30 years." GRIPEN E deliveries to the Swedish Air Force will commence in 2018 with some technology also being used for upgrades of GRIPEN C and D models and vice versa. With GRIPEN being selected in Brazil, talks are ongoing and a formal contract is expected to be signed at the end of 2014. This will include agreements on joint development, assembly with Embraer. A new Gripen two seat version will now be developed as this will help Saab gain access to certain markets, according to Buskhe. Cooperation with Boeing for the T-X programme is ongoing with people from Boeing now stationed in Linkoping and SAAB personnel based in St Louis. Saab is also working on a new surface radar family with AESA technology and on the remote tower concept. Approval to operate has been granted and a first remote tower has been placed in North Sweden. With regard to aerostructures, SAAB is "looking into new production methods and materials". Questioned about SAAB340 MSA Buskhe said that he hoped for "a deal rather soon, we expect our first customer to come from Asia."
Discussing Saab's GRIPEN combat aircraft, Buskhe expressed understanding for the intricacies of the Swiss political system as it was the outcome of a referendum that blocked the proposed deal for 22 GRIPENs for the Swiss Air Force: "sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. Together with armasuisse, we had worked out a major framework agreement which would lead us to cooperate with as many as 135 companies we had detected. However, we will now continue to work with most of them as long as they maintain their competitiveness as it is no subsidy money." He continued: "Even if we take away the 22 aircraft intended for Switzerland, we still have 36 aircraft for Brazil and 60 and a further 10 for Sweden. Our aim is to sell 400 GRIPEN E, F aircraft in the next ten years and we think that can be done. We continue to see interest for our Sea GRIPEN design while we are also working on an optionally piloted GRIPEN."
Speaking about Brazil, Buskhe said: "We see great possibilities to do things there and this could include final assembly and weapons integration. Recently, we agreed we will together on a new Gripen two-seater. Brazil has a very skilled aerospace workforce. However, we will also maintain our presence in Sweden."
"Our roots are in the air domain and we consolidated a large part of the Swedish defence industry as the Cold War ended. However, Saab is too big for the domestic market now and our products need to have an international footprint as today 75% of our order backlog is outside Sweden," Buskhe continued. Speaking about SAAB's expertise, he mentioned GRIPEN and ERIEYE while telling that his company had "launched a new radar platform a couple of weeks ago." Working on SKELDAR, the Swedish company is also taking part in the Neuron unmanned technology programme. Meanwhile SAAB is involved in land systems and in naval C2, fire control, weapons, sensors and platform programmes including in submarines since the recent acquisition of Kockums: "We have 250 vessels around the world that use our systems including RBS15 which also has air and land applications. We will take part in upgrading Sweden's current submarines and will also develop a new class as Sweden will go from four to five submarines."
Ongoing projects are the MS20 upgrade for GRIPEN C, D, this including the integration of the Meteor missile. Buskhe explained: "Due to new sensors and avionics these aircraft will fly for another 30 years." GRIPEN E deliveries to the Swedish Air Force will commence in 2018 with some technology also being used for upgrades of GRIPEN C and D models and vice versa. With GRIPEN being selected in Brazil, talks are ongoing and a formal contract is expected to be signed at the end of 2014. This will include agreements on joint development, assembly with Embraer. A new Gripen two seat version will now be developed as this will help Saab gain access to certain markets, according to Buskhe. Cooperation with Boeing for the T-X programme is ongoing with people from Boeing now stationed in Linkoping and SAAB personnel based in St Louis. Saab is also working on a new surface radar family with AESA technology and on the remote tower concept. Approval to operate has been granted and a first remote tower has been placed in North Sweden. With regard to aerostructures, SAAB is "looking into new production methods and materials". Questioned about SAAB340 MSA Buskhe said that he hoped for "a deal rather soon, we expect our first customer to come from Asia."
Pieter Bastiaans