New Delhi: Swedish defence major Saab has completed the delivery of its new generation, anti-armour weapons system AT4 to the Indian armed forces, it announced ahead of Aero India 2025 beginning Monday.
In 2022, the company was awarded a contract by the Indian Army for the fully disposable, lightweight, man-portable, and unguided rocket launcher system. It will also be used by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Incidentally, Saab hopes to start manufacturing the recoilless shoulder-fired weapons system, Carl-Gustaf, at its Haryana facility by early next year.
This is the first such project in the defence sector which has come through the 100 percent foreign direct investment (FDI) route.
“We have completed the delivery of the AT4. Work at our Haryana facility (on the Carl Gustaf weapon) is on and we are waiting for the industrial licence. We hope to start manufacturing early next year,” Mats Palmberg, chairman and managing director, Saab India, said here in New Delhi.
He also said the company looks forward to wide-ranging discussions with IAF on its pitch for the Gripen E fighter aircraft for the country’s multi-role, fighter-aircraft (MRFA) deal.
“We can deliver the first Gripen E aircraft to the IAF within 3 years of the contract. And that too with indigenous content. We will set up a full-fledged manufacturing facility in India with full technology transfer,” said Kent-Ake Molin, campaign director and head of the Gripen for India Programme at Saab.
The IAF is down to a mere 31 fighter squadrons on paper against a sanctioned strength of 42. This number will go down further this year when two remaining squadrons of the MiG 21 Bison, already operating as one, get phased out.
At Aero India 2025, Saab will also showcase the next generation NLAW, a light anti-tank weapon, successfully used by the Ukrainians against Russian tanks. But this is not on offer to the Indian Army.
However, the Swedish firm is looking at pitching its r-TWR deployable, which acts like an air traffic control (ATC) in battlefields.
Palmberg said it can be operated by someone sitting hundreds of kilometres away and the entire system takes just one hour to be installed and is easily portable by a C-130 J aircraft.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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