Twitter Facebook Google RSS
 
National Defense > Blog > Posts > Saab Consolidates U.S. Defense Businesses

10/22/2013

Saab Consolidates U.S. Defense Businesses
By Yasmin Tadjdeh



Saab, a Swedish defense and aerospace company, is creating a new U.S.-based company called Saab Defense and Security USA.

SDAS will incorporate previously separate divisions Saab Training USA, Saab Barracuda, Saab Support and Services, and parts of Saab Sensis Corporation.

Company executives discussed the future of Saab Oct. 22 at a breakfast meeting near the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, where theAssociation of the United States Army’s annual exposition is taking place.

The unification of the properties into one entity would not result in any layoffs, said Lars Borgwing, president and CEO of Saab Defense and Security USA. The move is similar to the recent corporate realignment of the U.S.-based defense division of France's Thales, which consolidated several businesses under Thales Defense and Security Inc.

The company sees new opportunities in the United States despite shrinking budgets. "The Swedish customer remains a very important customer for Saab … but the focus is definitely on the global level now," said John Belanger, vice president of communications for Saab North America.

Since 2010, Saab has worked to increase its presence in the United States, said Belanger. The creation of SDAS is the culmination of that effort, he said.

"The U.S. market is the largest defense market in the world, even with sequestration. Saab is a relatively small fish in a large pond, but if we can gain one or two percent of that market share, that's a great increase for the company globally," said Belanger.

Since the company's push to enter the North American market, Saab has seen significant growth. In 2010, the firm reached around $250 million in sales from its North American business, and in 2012 it increased sales to about $500 million, said Belanger. Exports now make up 70 percent to 80 percent of Saab's business, he said.

"We're really positive and see opportunities for growth here, even in a constrained marketplace," he said.

SDAS will seek to work with large prime contractors to better leverage its products, said Belanger. One example is the selection of Saab Sensis Corporation's Sea Giraffe Agile Multi-Beam 3D naval surveillance radar for the General Dynamics-built littoral combat ship USS Independence (LCS-2) in 2011.

"[Our] long-term goal is to grow the business, grow jobs, and to act not as a competitor to the existing primes, but as a technology partner, bringing Saab's unique product portfolio in and adding it where and when it's practical and applicable," said Belanger.

SDAS will also consider purchasing U.S.-based companies to add to its portfolio, said Borgwing. He declined to give specific details, but said a potential acquisition would need to be "unique." He said the company is a "patient investor."

Follow National Defense throughout the week for continued AUSA 2013 coverage.

Photo Credit: Saab, The cone-shaped Sea Giraffe radar sits atop a Visby-class corvette ship.
Posted at 5:06 PM by Yasmin Tadjdeh | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

Comments

There are no comments yet for this post.
Items on this list require content approval. Your submission will not appear in public views until approved by someone with proper rights. More information on content approval.

Name: *

eMail *

Comment *

Title

Attachments

Name: *


eMail *


Comment *


 

Refresh
Please enter the text displayed in the image.
The picture contains 6 characters.

Characters *

  

Legal Notice *

NDIA is not responsible for screening, policing, editing, or monitoring your or another user's postings and encourages all of its users to use reasonable discretion and caution in evaluating or reviewing any posting. Moreover, and except as provided below with respect to NDIA's right and ability to delete or remove a posting (or any part thereof), NDIA does not endorse, oppose, or edit any opinion or information provided by you or another user and does not make any representation with respect to, nor does it endorse the accuracy, completeness, timeliness, or reliability of any advice, opinion, statement, or other material displayed, uploaded, or distributed by you or any other user. Nevertheless, NDIA reserves the right to delete or take other action with respect to postings (or parts thereof) that NDIA believes in good faith violate this Legal Notice and/or are potentially harmful or unlawful. If you violate this Legal Notice, NDIA may, in its sole discretion, delete the unacceptable content from your posting, remove or delete the posting in its entirety, issue you a warning, and/or terminate your use of the NDIA site. Moreover, it is a policy of NDIA to take appropriate actions under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act and other applicable intellectual property laws. If you become aware of postings that violate these rules regarding acceptable behavior or content, you may contact NDIA at 703.522.1820.

 

 

Bookmark and Share