Restructuring of marketing company to start this year
Gripen International is to be restructured to give Saab a greater role in export marketing of the JAS39 Gripen.
Saab president Ake Svensson announced at Farnborough International that negotiations on future arrangements have been launched with BAE Systems. The revised structure should be finalised later this year, he says.
"We are looking into the way that we working together to see if we can make adaptation to that," Svensson says. "The vision is that Saab would take a stronger responsibility for new business. That has always been the aim."
When Gripen International was launched in 1995, it was "already then envisioned that some time in the future Gripen would have a significant foothold in the international market and, when that occurred, we should look into the possibilities of adjusting our way of working and see if Saab can take more responsibility for its own main product."
Gripen International will remain the vehicle for export sales, with this including a long-term role for BAE Systems in the joint venture, Svensson says. "Gripen International has a very strong order backlog and will continue to deliver Gripen to the export market. Total Gripen orders stand at 232 aircraft running through until 2012, with the later phase of current production planning based on South African Air Force orders.
Source: Flight International
