SAAB Exploring Multiple JVs In UAE

SAAB is looking to broaden its presence in the Middle East by taking on more collaborations and local partnerships, a senior executive told Defenseworld.net.

“SAAB is doing a lot of partnerships and joint ventures but also other types of partnerships. We have a vision to become more global and in order to become global successfully you have to become local,” Jim Nilsson, Senior Vice President, Head of Marketing Sales, Europe and Greater Middle East for SAAB said at the Dubai Air Show last week.

“So looking at the UAE, we have a local joint venture but in the same JV we're also teaming up with local industry, government and privately owned industries. We think that's really important in the long term to actually have as many JVs as possible,” he added.

Nilsson said that the UAE is developing very rapidly and “in the future there will be more opportunities for us to source locally.”

SAAB is currently in partnership with Tawazun and Mubadala Aerospace on the defense side. “Both have a lot of companies under them and we are in cooperation with a few."

On display at the Dubai Air Show were a variety of projects Saab thinks are applicable the air force, mainly. The main showcase was the airborne early surveillance solution for the region along with everything from traffic control management to hardware solutions.