By Gerard O'Dwyer
HELSINKI — Sweden is pursuing an ambitious "government-to-government" multibillion dollar (US) project to sell Saab’s Gripen-NG fighter to India.
The Gripen-NG was tentatively offered to India during meetings between senior Swedish and Indian government officials in Mumbai on Feb. 14-15. Saab was a participant in at least one of the meetings.
Saab was part of a Swedish government-sponsored, high-powered trade group that comprised many of Sweden’s leading industrial corporations, including Ericsson, Volvo, ABB, Scania and BAE Systems Hägglunds AB.
The intergovernmental talks culminated with a joint commitment signed by Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Löfven and India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi to "enhance dialogue" on defense in key areas such as aviation, air-defense, maritime security, combat training and simulation in the army domain.
"There is a general consensus that India wants to strengthen its defense capability. While the country will need to purchase, there is a strong confidence here in the capability of Sweden’s defense industry. We did not conduct any concrete discussions on business deals, but we do see a great opportunity here for Sweden’s defense industry in its entirety and Gripen is a very strong project. We naturally intend to continue talks," said Löfven.
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