New Delhi. 10 February 2017.  Swedish aerospace and defence major Saab offers to set up the world’s most modern ecosystem and facility in India, to manufacture Gripen E for India and the global market. From this unique industrial base India will accelerate its ability to design, develop, manufacture, modify and enhance new fighters for the future.
This fighter technology ecosystem would support the full spectrum of production capabilities for India, including parts manufacturing and subassembly. “Saab is offering an industrial facility that will be the centre-of-gravity for the Made-in-India Gripen. It is an unrivalled offer that will set new standards in aeronautical engineering excellence for decades to come, should India procure Gripen,” says Saab India Chairman Jan Widerström. In close cooperation with Saab, engineers and technicians from Indian partner and supplier companies will live and work in Sweden and at global partners’ sites, They will be trained at today’s production facilities, to gain the knowledge and experience needed for transfer to Indian-made Gripens once India’s own facilities are operational. Saab’s R&D collaborations in India will see a rapid expansion. Saab would incubate partnerships between its global supply chain and Indian suppliers. Saab would also foster R&D partnerships for next-generation platform, system and sub-system design and development across the industry.
 Saab will set up a training academy for pilots, technicians and aerospace engineers. Saab has started to identify and evaluate Tier 2 and Tier 3 partners from all over India. Saab’s partnership and procurement teams have met many Indian companies to assess capabilities and areas of cooperation. In addition, Saab has evaluated potential sites in a number of states and has entered into discussions with several state governments. India’s indigenous aerospace capabilities will be built up to establish, operate and secure a national support network, through true technology transfer to Indian industry. This will ensure that the Indian Air Force is completely selfreliant, and need look only within India for all required support.
Mats Palmberg, Vice President, Industrial Partnerships, Aeronautics, Saab AB described the benefits of Saab’s proposal saying, “Saab’s offer of Made-inIndia Gripen fighters includes the setting up of a completely new industrial ecosystem in India, with the capabilities to produce and upgrade the world’s most advanced fighter aircraft, for India and for export. The offer involves transfer of critical technology to India, and close cooperation with Indian partner companies and suppliers, for long-term fighter capability development in India.”
The state-of-the-art facilities for India would include a dedicated Gripen Design Centre, a major production facility equipped with the latest manufacturing technologies and robotics systems, a radar and sensor centre, final assembly plus test and verification centres. The facilities to be set up would also deliver depot-level maintenance, repair and overhaul and design services.