SWEDISH defence giant Saab is making a bold, secret play for a slice of Australia’s $30 billion future submarine project.
As Federal Government placed all options for the navy’s future submarine back on the table this week, News Corp Australia can reveal that Saab and the Swedish Government have been engaged in secret talks with the Defence Department about the design of the new boats.
A Swedish delegation travelled to Canberra in March for first round talks.Sweden has along history in submarines but it moved away from the business about 15 years ago when its shipbuilder Kockums — the company that designed the Collins Class submarine — was sold to German company Thyssen Krupp MS (TKMS).
The Swedish Government last month cancelled a deal with Kockums to buy its future submarine and since then it has contracted Saab to examine options for the nation’s sub-surface fleet.One option is buying the submarine builder back from TKMS and possibly expanding operations in Australia.Saab has hired almost 100 submarine experts from Kockums during the past month and its spokesman Anders Carp hinted that the hi-tech defence company could make a bid for Adelaide based submarine maker ASC if an when it came up for sale.
http://www.news.com.au/national/swedish-firm-saab-bids-to-design-new-royal-australian-navy-submarines/story-fncynjr2-1226881354893
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