'Mutually agreed to not renew MoU': Defence firm Saab on parting ways with Adani Group

Swedish aerospace and defence major SAAB on Thursday (February  9) pitched its Gripen combat aircraft as the best option for the Indian Air Force's hunt for 114 combat jets and said the company is ready to provide both single and two-seater variants of the plane.

It can be seen that the Gripen E, a single seater 4.5-generation aircraft produced by Saab, is a key contender for the IAF's fighter programme along with Lockheed Martin's F-21, Boeing's F/A-18, Dassault Aviation's Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Russian aircraft MiG 35.

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When asked about Saab walking out of its joint venture with the Adani Group, Mats Palmberg, Chairman and Managing Director of Saab India Technologies said that both the parties mutually agreed to not renew the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) agreement on the collaboration in 2019.

"It was mutually agreed not to renew the MoU in 2019. It is not that we came out (of it). It was a mutually agreed decision," he said.

The Saab and Adani Group's joint venture was firmed up in 2017 eyeing the billion dollar MRFA deal. The Saab India CMD said the company will demonstrate in Aero-India its cutting edge technologies that make Gripen E the "world's most modern multi-role fighter aircraft."

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He said Saab will present a wide portfolio of products and systems from the air, land and sea domains including the AT4 shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon, Carl-Gustaf weapon systems and Integrated Defence Aids Suite (IDAS).

"At Aero India 2023, we will showcase our latest technologies which are changing defence and security planning, deployment and future force readiness," the Saab India CMD said.

"Our team from India, Sweden and other countries will be there to share our wide range of products, solutions, plans, and our thoughts about how we best can collaborate with the Indian defence industry to build an Atmanirbhar Bharat," Palmberg said.

He also asserted that Saab is fully committed to complement India's 'Atmanirbhar' (self-reliance) approach in defence manufacturing and said that the company is setting up a manufacturing facility for Carl-Gustaf in India.

(With inputs from PTI)