Saab further expands its operations in Finland

Homeland October 18, 2021

Saab has made strides to continue its expansion of research and development operations in Finland, now into the fields of data-link communication technology as well as Virtual and Extended Reality (VR/XR) technology.

This further expansion will lead to the creation of 30-50 new jobs at Saab in Tampere and Helsinki in the near future.

Saab accelerated its growth in Finland in 2017 with the establishment of a Technology Center in Tampere. The unit has been expanding considerably and currently employs about 60 highly qualified engineers. The focus has been on advanced microwave electronics development and production, for e.g. Electronic Warfare systems, as well as Command & Control systems’ development and sustainment. Saab also supports the Finnish Defence Forces within key areas through its subsidiary Combitech Oy.

Saab is growing in Finland, both within current areas and within the new fields of data-link communication and VR/XR technology. Several positions are open and recruitments for the new areas have already started.

Within data-link communication, Saab’s work in Finland will expand into directed data-link systems for robust communication between e.g. fighter aircraft, surveillance aircraft and unmanned systems. Related research and development will cover, for example, high-frequency antenna systems, signal processing and software-defined waveforms.

The field of VR/XR technologies provides exciting possibilities to boost realism and efficiency in existing and future products. Saab is expanding within this area and also seeks to leverage Finnish expertise, both internally and through partnerships with other Finnish companies and research institutions. Among others, Saab and the Finnish company Varjo have developed a mixed reality training environment for the Gripen E/F simulators that now is available and offered to customers.

“Our successful growth in Finland continues. Here we find highly skilled people both for our long-term research and for our on-going development work. The closeness geographically and culturally as well as all other similarities between two high-tech countries in Northern Europe make it easy and natural for us to expand here. Within the coming years our staff in Finland will grow well beyond 300 employees,” says Jonas Hjelm, Senior Vice President and Head of Business Area Aeronautics.

In Finland, Saab develop, produce and sustain highly advanced systems and the local operations form part of Saab’s global development organisation, thereby serving the broader market within the air, land and surface domains. At the same time, Saab supports the Finnish Defence Forces by building Security of Supply within key areas and for systems in operation by Finland.

“I am proud of our skilled staff working with both development, production and sustainment of sophisticated systems. Defence and security is of key importance for Finland and a strong defence industry is vital to ensure and sustain a credible and robust operational capability. At Saab we form part of this important defence industrial base of Finland,” says Anders Gardberg, Country Manager and CEO of Saab Finland Oy.

Saab is also investing heavily in research activities in Finland, constituting one of four strategic partners of Aalto University. The partnership currently includes more than 30 professors, researchers and PhD students working in 10 research projects within artificial intelligence, sensor technology, hydro-acoustics and autonomous systems.

Saab’s total investment in Aalto University collaboration is currently 23 million euro for 2017-2026. In addition, since 2019 Saab has been a strategic partner to the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland. In 2021, Saab made an additional investment of one million euros, further expanding the collaboration with VTT into new research areas.

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