Saab CEO Says Swedish NATO Entry Would Open Door to Inner Circle

Veronica Ek, Bloomberg News

A model of a Saab AB Gripen E/F smart fighter aircraft is displayed at the company's booth during the Aero India air show at Air Force Station Yelahanka in Bengaluru, India, on Thursday, Feb. 21, 2019. India -- the world’s biggest arms importer, with an annual defense budget of $43 billion -- has been dangling a potential $15 billion fighter jet deal for more than a decade, with Lockheed and Boeing, the world’s two largest contractors, vying for the chance to refit India’s air force. Photographer: Karen Dias/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- Swedish defense group Saab AB is betting on a sales boost from the country’s rapidly changing attitudes toward joining the military alliance NATO.

Unthinkable just a few months ago, Swedish lawmakers are now intensively discussing a potential application to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as public support for such a move hit new heights this month. For Saab, it’s “hard to see anything negative with that from an industrial perspective,” chief executive officer Micael Johansson said in a phone interview after reporting first-quarter results.

“You become a part of the inner circle, and so you can access that market in a more equitable way,” the CEO said.

While Saab is already selling products to some of the countries within the alliance, NATO membership would make it easier to compete for contracts within sensitive areas such as information handling, advanced missile systems and sensors. “It’s often the defense industry within that club that gets to deliver,” Johansson said.

Still, the Swedish company is enjoying rising demand particularly within its Surveillance and Dynamics units, which sell products such as radars, underwater systems and simulation systems. The spike in demand might show up in Saab’s order books in nine to 12 months from now, according to the CEO.

Read More: Sweden Speeds Up NATO Analysis to Keep Pace With Finland