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Saab Global

Redoubling industry engagement

3 min read

Recognising that industry engagement is key to project and commercial success, Saab Australia has appointed a Head of Industry Engagement to expand the company's already well-established connections. Matt Opie who spent two years with ADF's RPDE program understands the needs of industry when dealing with defence prime contractors and the end customer.

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Since his appointment last year, Matt has been actively keeping industry informed of Saab Australia’s current and emerging major projects through the Saab Australia industry portal and a number of events hosted across the country.

“Through the portal and seminars we hosted late last year, we’ve had over 150 local suppliers register their interest in our supply chain whom we’ve categorised by capability and services”, said Matt.

Saab Australia participated in a number of industry roadshows last year, including presenting its current and emerging maritime projects and briefing industry on the Saab approach for the upcoming deployable joint health tender under JP 2060. Also as a major subcontractor to BAE Systems Australia (down-selected as one of the final two suppliers completing risk mitigation activities) we are providing five subsystems on the AMV35 combat reconnaissance vehicle and supported the national Land 400 Phase 2 Industry Roadshow.

“The roadshows revealed several potential Australian subcontractors. Subsequently we released a series of questionnaires and requests for information and quotations seeking to maximise Australian industry capability on all of our projects. We are now in the process of mapping out what opportunities exist for qualified potential subcontractors on various projects”, said Matt.

Saab Australia’s industry engagement program will support and strengthen Australia’s domestic defence industry.

“My focus is to make sure our programs deliver maximum local economic benefit from federal defence spending,” said Matt.

Saab’s commitment to Australian industry is evidenced by the 30 years since we established our presence here in 1987 to build and integrate the combat management system for the Anzac Class frigates.

With a number of important contracts underway this year, Saab Australia looks forward to sharing this success with Australian companies. Specifically in terms of jobs growth and security, we are keen to pass this on to Australian SMEs wherever possible.

“We’re looking for collaborators in engineering and logistic support, electronic subsystems supply, additional systems, hardware, computing and networking. There’s also opportunity for local industry involvement across Saab Australia’s whole field of maritime operations,” said Matt.

During a busy year in defence, Saab Australia is seeking support on a range of projects including Land 400 Phase 2 combat reconnaissance vehicles, JP 2060 deployable joint health, and major maritime projects including SEA 5000 future frigates and SEA 1180 offshore patrol vessels.

More information can be found at the Saab Australia industry portal on our website.