For Saab, New Boss, New Home, New Opportunities

The turn of the year brings new milestones for Saab’s Asia-Pacific business unit, as the Swedish arms manufacturer seeks new opportunities in this region.

Dean Rosenfield started his new post as head of Saab Asia-Pacific on January 1. Taking over from Dan Enstedt, he will assume the role as senior advisor to Håkan Buskhe, president and CEO of Saab. Previously, Rosenfield was the managing director for Saab Australia for close to five years.

“As the new head of Saab’s Asia-Pacific business I am operating as part of a global senior management team with responsibility to secure and grow a profitable business that has a bigger local footprint in the region. Having served previously in the Australian Army for 15 years and with Saab for the last 17, I have a detailed understanding of the customer environment and how Saab can assist in addressing many of their issues,” he told AIN.

Saab (Stand D11) has also concurrently moved the headquarters of its Asia-Pacific market area from Bangkok to Singapore, according to Rosenfield is in line with the long-term plans of Saab’s main owner, the Investor Group, and will also join other Investor’s company in Singapore.

“At the same time, Singapore will take on a new significance for us and we expect our very strong relationship with the customer here to further expand and develop in the years to come,” he added. He did not, however, reveal details on how deeply involved it will be with the island state that is already using numerous Saab products such as the Giraffe AMB radar and RBS 70.

The office in Thailand will continue to operate and support the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Saab inaugurated the Bangkok office in 2013 as its headquarters to support the Gripen, Erieye and frigate programs, which have recently come to fruition. The Royal Thai Air Force’s Gripen program will mark its first decade in 2018, and continues to set new milestones. Just last December, a RTAF Gripen conducted a live drop of a GBU-12 laser-guided bomb in an annual live munitions exercise.

“We remain in constant dialogue with our Thai customer on how to keep the Gripen fleet at the forefront of technology. One future option is clearly the MS20 upgrade the various capability enhancements that offers. We also see the potential to develop new air combat simulation facilities for Thailand to enhance effectiveness across the entire air force. We are ready to assist in the further development of the RTAF in whatever way the customer requires,” said Rosenfield.

The Australian also pointed out that in the dynamic and complex Asia-Pacific region, for various reasons procurement programs sometimes fail to make speedy progress. “In some cases it’s a simple matter of matching budgets with aspirations, or a failure to prioritize between competing requirements. In other cases, we see procurement systems that struggle to make effective decisions. Sometimes there have been genuine budget problems.”

“There is also a changing strategic landscape in the region where new threats and new operational demands have arisen, and old assumptions have had to change,” he added.

A case in point could be Malaysia and the Philippines, where the need for Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) was catalyzed, on top of their combat aircraft requirements. Saab was quick to jump on the changing requirements and has offered the Swordfish MPA and as an all-in-one platform for anti-submarine and anti-surface operations.  

The Swordfish, based on the Bombardier Global 6000, was recently updated with a larger weapons payload and an added Magnetic Anomaly Detection boom. Saab told AIN last May that the MAD XR boom is still relevant and is close to 10 times lighter than most legacy booms.

Also on the table is the Albatros Mission System for basic maritime surveillance duties. Singapore and New Zealand are also two known countries in Asia-Pacific that are seeking new MPA.

“We are talking to several customers in the region, all of whom have serious intent to acquire and operate a ‘top tier’ MPA and ISR asset. Right now, different requirements are at different stages of maturity, but I see three or four serious prospects in the region—and I see the potential for Swordfish to revolutionize the way nations tackle the MPA mission.”

He added that defense business is always a complex arena in which to operate, and patience and a long-term outlook are required. “At Saab we have plenty of both.“