Saab and Tawazun create UAE-based radar company

Bubblegum Crisis · Feb 9, 2013

Saab and Tawazun create UAE-based radar company

4 February 2013, in News

Defence and security company Saab has partnered with Tawazun, a strategic investment company focusing on defence and strategic manufacturing, to create a new UAE-based radar company. This will be the Middle East regions first company for the development, manufacture, assembly and integration of radar systems.

The new company is named Abu Dhabi Advanced Radar Systems (ADARS). It is a joint venture where 51 per cent is owned by Tawazun and 49 per cent by Saab.

Creating ADARS is part of our strategy to increase our presence in key markets. UAE is one of these key markets, where we have had business relations since the 1980s, including within the radar system area, says Saabs President and CEO Håkan Buskhe.

Commenting on the new partnership, H.E Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, Chief Executive Officer of Tawazun said:
As we continue to grow as an organisation, diversify our product portfolio and extend our capabilities, it is imperative that we partner with like-minded entities who share our vision and who complement our values and ambitions. This partnership with Saab will see us invest in advanced technologies to develop unique products for the defence market, which is testament to our commitment to continuously adapting and improving new technology to meet our customers changing needs.

ADARS will be a local radar capability centre for development of next generation radar systems, and for production, maintenance and support services in the radar system area.

As part of the agreement, and to strengthen the UAE's and ADARS´s overall technical skill sets and assist the country's defence capabilities in the development and delivery of advanced radar systems,15 UAE nationals will participate in a Masters program in Microwave and Radar Technology Engineering in Sweden.

SAAB Press Center

Abu Dhabi's Tawazun putting new eyes on the skies with radar deal

April Yee
Feb 5, 2013

Tawazun and Saab, the Swedish aerospace and weapons maker, have agreed to launch a joint venture that will be the region's first maker of radar systems.

Tawazun, a strategic holding company owned by the Abu Dhabi Government with assets spanning mortar to missiles, will own 51 per cent of the new company - Abu Dhabi Advanced Radar Systems (Adars).

"As we continue to grow as an organisation, diversify our product portfolio and extend our capabilities, it is imperative that we partner with like-minded entities who share our vision and who complement our values and ambitions," said Saif Mohamed Al Hajeri, Tawazun's chief executive. "This partnership with Saab will see us invest in advanced technologies to develop unique products for the defence market."

The radar joint venture is to focus on the local development and production of what the partners called "next generation" radar systems and will include sending 15 Emiratis to earn master's degrees in radar technology in Sweden.

"Creating Adars is part of our strategy to increase our presence in key markets," said Håkan Buskhe, the chief executive of Saab, which was spun off the eponymous car brand in the 1980s.

Shares of Saab were down 2.1 krona to 135.30 krona in mid-afternoon trading in Stockholm.

The deal, which the partners did not value, comes on the heels of other Tawazun joint ventures created in the past half-year, including a deal signed in September with Denel, South Africa's biggest defence company, to build precision-guided weapons.

In July, Saab, Tawazun and the Italian aircraft maker Piaggio agreed to develop a multi-role patrol aircraft based on an existing turboprop called the Avanti II. Abu Dhabi Autonomous System Investments, a Tawazun subsidiary, is financing the construction of prototypes that it hopes to have in the air by next year, which will be designed to fly at 41,000 feet for more than 10 hours.

Like other Tawazun subsidiaries, such as the pistol maker Caracal and the military vehicle specialist NIMR, the new partnerships are designed to cater to the needs of the UAE Armed Forces and contribute to the diversification of Abu Dhabi's economy.

Growing demand in the region is helping to fuel investment, said Theodore Karasik, the director of research and development at the regional security consultancy Inegma.

"Now we're going to see more agreements between Tawazun and other partners to beef up the UAE's defence industry," said Mr Karasik. "They're branching out into new areas of the defence industry that are critical for the region and where there will be plenty of customers who will buy these products."

The radar deal has been approved by Swedish regulators.

The National UAE

Gripen NG to carry new Finmeccanica-Selex radar

Published: April 16, 2009 at 10:38 AM
By LEANDER SCHAERLAECKENS, UPI Correspondent

BRUSSELS, April 16 (UPI) -- Gripen NG to carry new Finmeccanica-Selex radar
The Swedish aerospace company Saab, which builds the Gripen Next Generation fighter jet, and the Italian Finmeccanica subsidiary Selex Galileo have confirmed they will cooperate on developing a new radar system for the Gripen NG.

The new active electronically scanned array radar will be based on Selex's Vixen e-scan radar, but it will also be compatible with the PS-05/A on current Gripen combat fighters.

Initially, the new radar will be offered only to Brazil, which is considering buying the Gripen NG. But a spokesman for Saab said that, if successful, the cooperation could be expanded to develop a line of radar systems that could be retrofitted onto Gripen jets already in service.

Selex has just produced its e-scan Vixen and sold it to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service, which will use it on its C-550 Citation Tracker planes.