SAAB builds new Australian HQ, buys into UAV builder
Saab Systems Pty Ltd, which began construction in March of its new HQ and manufacturing centre in Adelaide, has acquired a strategic stake in Australian Platinum Mines Ltd, which in turn plans this month to acquire all the shares in Australian UAV manufacturer Aerosonde Ltd, which manufactures small UAVs for environmental observation and surveillance.
According to Saab Systems managing director Nick Hammond, the investment is not focused on a specific ADF project, rather to acquire a generic capability which Saab can then apply to a range of defence requirements.
Aerosonde provides a service rather than selling individual products, Hammond told ADM, and this is the business model which Saab intends to pursue. He forecast an merging market within the ADF and export customers for military surveillance, imagery collection, communications relay and other applications which could be met on a Private Finance (PF) basis.
An Aerosonde air vehicle can be launched, recovered and controlled a considerable distance from the scene of any hostilities, he told ADM, which means that it need not be owned and operated by a tactical unit in the field.
In 1998 Aerosonde became the first unmanned aircraft to cross the Atlantic; the baseline air vehicle has a payload of up to 2.5kg, a wing span of 2.9m and a range and endurance of more than 3,000km and 30 hours at altitudes ranging from 100m to more than 6,000m.
Saab Systems is not an Australian subject matter expert on UAV construction and operations, Hammond said, but brings considerable strengths in command and control and knowledge of the defence customer. In particular, Saab Systems is prime contractor for the Army's Battlefield Command Support System (BCSS) project and many potential military applications for Aerosonde would feed into and enhance the functionality of BCSS.
But Saab Systems' Swedish parent company is entering the UAV market and the acquisition of a stake in Aerosonde could trigger an important two-way street in technology transfer, according to Dr Greg Holland, chief executive of Aerosonde. Also, the company's existing customers exploit Aerosonde imagery and other product through an internet-based interface; this means that linking into a military command system such as BCSS would be quite easy, he told ADM.
The acquisition of Aerosonde Ltd by Australian Platinum Mines Ltd is expected to be completed following the latter's shareholders meeting in mid-June. Australian Platinum Mines Ltd will then change its name to Aerosonde Holdings Ltd.
Saab's new Technology Park, Adelaide, headquarters will support an ongoing expansion from the current 180-strong workforce to around 270 within five years, Goran Sjoblom, Saab AB's Chief Financial Officer, said at the site of the new building on March 30. Saab Systems Pty Ltd has a strong future in Australia, he said, and will remain an integral part of the total Saab group, involved in joint projects with sister companies all over the world.
By Gregor Ferguson, Adelaide