Saab is Teaming Up with India
Make in India lies at the core of India’s development premise today, and will have a tremendous impact on Indian industry in coming years. It is based on the idea that the only way to meet challenges such as employment for millions of people in India’s labour market, is rapid industrialization. Make in India has an ambition of developing an indigenous industry of global scale.
With a proven track record of sharing critical technology, Sweden and Saab have laid much emphasis on transfer of technology that includes training, transfer of know-how, capability development, and development of a strong supply chain for cutting-edge technology systems. By virtue of this, our partners can be self-reliant and build a state-of-the-art domestic industry.
We see a perfect match between the skilled Indian work force and Swedish know-how in the defence industry. This combination can lead to the creation of a number of high-tech jobs in manufacturing, and also increase avenues for education in defence and engineering through collaboration between Indian and Swedish Universities.
Saab’s footprint of industrial partnerships in India has been growing for many years now. We have completed 40 years of collaboration with the Ordnance Factory Board this year. We have a joint venture with Aequs in Belgaum, Aerostructures Assemblies India, which manufactures assemblies for commercial and defence aircraft. Our Aerostructures division has a very large footprint across India - We have been working with companies such as Mahindra Aerospace, Tata Advanced Materials, Cim Tools and more, and have also set up the Saab India Technology Center, which is involved in R&D, in collaboration with Tech Mahindra. It works closely with teams in Sweden on developing the next generation of defence systems.
In collaboration with Elcome Integrated Systems, Saab implemented the National Automatic Identification System (NAIS) on the Indian coast line in 2012. It provides coverage to the entire Indian Coast, whereby 74 lighthouses are now fitted with Saab systems, thereby helping safeguard India’s coastline through monitoring and identification of maritime traffic.
Saab and Reliance Defence are jointly developing the next generation of Combat Management Systems in India. In collaboration with Grintex, we have deployed Advanced Surface Movement Guidance & Control Systems (A-SMGCS) at nine of the eleven busiest airports in India. The Saab A-SMGCS is enhancing situational awareness and runway safety at these airports. We have tied up with Kalyani Group to work together on Air Defence systems for India.
For us, the focus is not just on winning bids, but on building business with Indian industry across the entire hierarchy of manufacturers, all the way from sub-component suppliers to strategic partners.
In Sweden, Saab works very closely with the Government to ensure absolute probity in our business opportunities across the world. This is what PM Narendra Modi is aspiring to ensure with his Make in India vision - that Defence industry policies are transparent and make every Indian proud.
India has a 14% share in the global defence trade, and is likely to spend around $130 billion on defence in the next seven to eight years. This is an excellent opportunity to boost indigenous manufacturing & development, and increase India’s self-reliance in defence production. We look forward to working even closer together with the Indian Government and industry to ensure that Make in India is a true success.