Replacement for 33 Year-Old ORION
Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) to deliver a special purpose vessel for signals intelligence (SIGINT) to the Royal Swedish Navy.
The contract has an announced value of SEK370 million (US$41 million) and the vessel is expected to be delivered by 2020, according to a company announcement on 11 April. Saab will be responsible for design, construction and delivery. Coming on the heels of recent wins in the submarine field, the new contract confirms Saab’s ability to deliver surface vessels, according to Gunnar Wieslander, the Head of Saab’s Kockums business unit.
The existing Swedish SIGINT vessel, HMS ORION was launched in 1984, since when it has been upgraded several times by Saab’s Karlskrona shipyard.