On behalf of the Polish company the agreement has been signed by Sławomir Latos, President of the Nauta Shiprepair Yard, meanwhile President of the Saab Kockums, Gunnar Wieslander, signed the agreement on behalf of the Swedes. The event of signing also involved the President of the PGZ, Błażej Wojnicz, and President of the Saab AB group, Håkan Buskhe. 

Nauta Shiprepair Yard is to be responsible for building, equipping and conducting the sea trials involving the Swedish reconnaissance vessel platform. Then, the ship is going to sail to Karlskrona where, at the Saab Kockums shipyard, specialized equipment is going to be set up (electronics), which is to be followed by the final sea trials preceding the hand-off.

As it was stated by Jyrki Kujansuu, Saab vice-president, the reconnaissance vessels have to remain available and reliable - which is critical for their mission. Nauta Shiprepair Yard is an experienced and highly qualified partner, as the representative of the Saab company noted. The Swedish official also expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the fact that the initial plans of collaboration with the Polish Armaments Group have been transformed in real business partnership which, as of now, is mutually and tangibly beneficial for the Parties involved.

The agreement would not be signed, had it not been for the fact that Saab has been awarded with a contract by the FMV Swedish Defence Procurement body, concerning design, build and delivery of a new reconnaissance vessel, which was announced on 11th April this year. The total value of the contract is defined as SEK 730 million - around PLN 323 million.

The concluded agreement demonstrates the scale of abilities remaining at disposal of the Polish shipyard industry, and the trust the Polish companies have within the international arena. I hope that this is only the beginning of a long term collaboration with the Saab company, and I am fully convinced that the collaboration will be mutually beneficial for both parties, not only business-wise, but also within the scope of raising the level of Polish and Swedish national security.

Polska Grupa Zbrojeniowa S.A. [Polish Armaments Group] and the Swedish Saab company have initiated their collaboration last year, by signing a letter of intent in which Poles and Swedes have expressed their willingness to work together in order to support the technical modernization of the Polish Armed Forces. The document covers the needs of the Navy, Air Forces and the Land Forces.

In October 2016 both Parties have decided to tighten their collaboration undertaken up until now. A memorandum of understanding on cooperation has been signed, within the scope of potential R&D collaboration, also with regards to building new submarines and surface combatants, also assuming that an in-depth industrial collaboration would be arranged, along with a transfer of technologies for the shipbuilding companies consolidated within the PGZ and included in the “Countering the Naval Threats” operational programme, being an important element of the Polish Armed Forces Technical Modernization Plan.

(AN)