Saab

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SAAB AB

logo
legal form AB (Aktiebolag)
ISIN SE0000112385
founding 1937
Seat Stockholm , SwedenSwedenSweden 
management Håkan Buskhe, President and CEO

Marcus Wallenberg , chairman

Number of employees 16,427 (2017)
sales 23.498 billion SEK (2011)
Branch Aviation , armaments , shipyard Automobile construction Truck construction
Website www.saabgroup.com

Saab-Scania AB share dated June 15, 1973
Saab 340 - twin-engine turboprop airliner
Saab Viggen - single-jet jet fighter

Saab AB is a Swedish aircraft construction and defense company . The company was founded in 1937 as S venska A eroplan A ktie b olaget ( listen ? / I ) (from which “SAAB” was later derived as an acronym ). Audio file / audio sample

The company had a passenger car division from 1947, which from 1990 traded as Saab Automobile AB and was completely spun off from the group in 2000. In 1969 Saab merged with the truck manufacturer Scania and operated as Saab-Scania until this merger was separated in 1995 .

history

The company was founded in 1937 to build military aircraft as a merger of AB Svenska Järnvägsverkstädera and Svenska Flygmotor AB in Linköping (Sweden). In the early days, only licensed products were manufactured, such as the German Ju 86A bomber or the American North American NA-16 (T-6) training aircraft . Production started in Trollhättan in 1940 . In the same year, Saab created its first own design, the two-seat dive bomber and reconnaissance aircraft Saab 17 , which was used by Flygvapnet until 1948 and also exported to Ethiopia. Another success was the twin-engine Saab 18 from 1942. It was produced in 242 copies and used from 1944 to 1956 as a bomber, reconnaissance , dive bomber and torpedo bomber .

Saab's first jet aircraft was the Saab 21R , first flown in 1947 , a further development of the Saab 21 . In 1955 one of the company's greatest successes in aircraft construction flew for the first time, the single-seat Saab 35 Draken . 606 of these interceptors , equipped with an unconventional double- delta structure , were also exported to Finland , Denmark and Austria and some of them still fly today. The most modern military aircraft type is the Saab JAS-39 Gripen .

In 1999 Saab acquired a stake in the Swedish arms manufacturer Celsius AB . In the following year Celsius AB and its daughter Bofors were completely taken over and the heavy weapons division was sold to United Defense . The remaining guided missile production traded as Saab Bofors Dynamics , today Saab Dynamics , from 2000 . In June 2006, Saab took over Ericsson’s defense division Ericsson Microwave Systems AB (EMW) and the shares in the joint venture Saab Ericsson Space AB (SES). SES now operated under the name Saab Space as a business unit of Saab. Among other things, she owned the Austrian Aerospace company in Austria. In July 2008, Saab Space was sold to RUAG .

Saab had been in talks with Boeing since 2010 about a joint development of a single-engine training aircraft , and in December 2013 the two signed a contract with Boeing taking over the lead. The first flight of the Boeing TX took place on 20 December 2016. The consortium takes with her coach on the TX program of the United States Air Force in part, that the 50-year Northrop T-38 of the USAF to replace with a new coach. The USAF wants 350 aircraft and the program is worth $ 16.3 billion. The initial operating capability is to be achieved in 2024.

At the beginning of December 2011, Switzerland decided to purchase 22 “Saab JAS-39 Gripen” fighter jets. The performance weaker "Gripen" prevailed against the Rafale and the Eurofighter . Lower costs were the main reason for the decision, but only 22 new aircraft were ordered instead of the original 33. The purchase price is around CHF 3.1 billion. The offers of the competitors were about 1 billion francs higher. However, the purchase was withdrawn as part of a referendum.

In July 2014, the Swedish shipyard Kockums , based in Malmö, was bought by ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems , a subsidiary of the Thyssen-Krupp group. Kockums mainly manufactures military ships and submarines .

Motor vehicles

A Saab 96 (1960-1980)

The first passenger car manufactured by Saab was the prototype Saab 92001 (" Ursaab "), which was completed on June 10, 1947. From 1949 Saab produced the Saab 92 developed from it in series. In addition, Saab founded the Saab-Valmet joint venture with the Finnish Valmet group in Finland in 1968 for the production of automobiles in Finland. In 1969 Saab took over the truck manufacturer Scania and then operated as Saab-Scania .

After losing the automotive division in 1989 and failed cooperation plans with Ford , Saab-Scania entered into a partnership with the US company General Motors in December 1989 . As a result, the Saab Automobile AB joint venture was founded in March 1990 from the vehicle sector of Saab-Scania AB . The company shares were 50% each with GM and Saab. In 1992 Saab sold its shares in Saab-Valmet . In 1995 Scania AB was outsourced and Saab-Scania was renamed Saab AB . In January 2000 Saab AB sold the remaining shares in Saab Automobile AB to General Motors . Saab AB had thus completely separated from vehicle production.

Under GM it was not possible to run Saab Automobile economically; Saab also had to do numerous development work for the American group. GM sold Saab to the small series manufacturer Spyker , which could not raise the necessary funds to reorganize the company. When this withdrew, GM refused new prospects for Saab Automobile important licenses for previous products, including the two Chinese partner companies Pang Da and Youngman . On December 19, 2011, the company's management announced that it had filed for bankruptcy after all negotiations with potential buyers had failed. General Motors blocked the sale to the two Chinese companies in order not to have to sell its technology to Chinese investors.

The Saab Automobile AB was dissolved in 2012 and the bankruptcy estate by the newly established company NEVS bought. NEVS briefly produced the Saab 9-3 again, but lost the rights to use the Saab brand in the course of bankruptcy protection proceedings in 2014 and is now planning to produce electric cars based on the 9-3 under its own name.

Group structure

The majority of the shares are held by institutional investors , the second largest shareholder is Investor AB . Saab manufactures both civil and military types of aircraft. The largest buyer of combat aircraft , the Swedish Air Force . Saab is also a supplier for other aircraft manufacturers such as Airbus (e.g. parts of the fuselage and wing structure) or NHI (fuselage parts).

Business areas

  • Aeronautics
  • Dynamics
  • Surveillance
  • Support and Services
  • Industrial Products and Services
  • Kockums

Web links

Commons : Saab  - collection of images
 Wikinews: Saab  - on the news

Individual evidence

  1. Company in letter saabgroup.com, accessed on 30 November 2018th
  2. Space becomes 100 percent Saab ( Memento from September 23, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  3. Ruag strengthens the space division nzz.ch, July 16, 2008.
  4. Boeing / Saab TX (English), accessed on January 6, 2018
  5. Switzerland opts for cheaper fighter jets from Sweden ( Memento from December 2, 2011 in the Internet Archive )
  6. Saab Group: Saab completes acquisition of TKMS AB (Kockums) (English), accessed on March 12, 2015.
  7. Ford Seeks 51% Of Saab-Scania. New York Times , October 14, 1989, accessed February 20, 2009 .
  8. a b Saab-GM Unit Set Up. New York Times, March 23, 1990, accessed February 20, 2009 .
  9. ^ Saab A History of high technology. Saab AB, April 20, 2010, accessed June 18, 2010 .
  10. Chinese partner companies take over Saab. In: Der Standard , October 28, 2011.
  11. DAPD , dpa -AFX: bankruptcy. No solution for Saab. In: FAZ .net , December 19, 2011.
  12. Saab - The final end. In: Focus , December 12, 2011.
  13. GM blocks Saab rescue for fear of China. In: Die Welt , November 8, 2011.