Saab Break Ground in India and Sign Major Contract with Poland

Saab have announced two major initiatives that will see increased procurement of their Carl Gustaf recoilless anti-armor weapon by India and Poland. In a pair of announcements Saab heralded the beginning of construction of a new factory in India and announced a significant contract with Poland to procure the latest iteration of the Carl Gustaf, the M4.

Saab has established a new company, Saab FFVO India Pvt Ltd, which will own and operate the new factory which will produce the Carl-Gustaf M4 for the Indian military. India has fielded the M2 Carl Gustaf since the mid-1970s. The establishment of the new factory was announced in late September 2022. At the time Saab told Overt Defense that the new facility would “cater for Indian customers for whom we can offer the Carl-Gustaf as “Made in India”. This is part of Saab’s plan to fully meet the requirements of “Make in India”.

As part of the Made in India policy Saab will work with Indian suppliers. The factory is being built in the northern state of Haryana at the MET City at Jhajjar. Saab says that the area has a “strong industrial base of good potential partners and skilled employees.”

Håkan Jevrell, State Secretary for Foreign Trade, Sweden, said: “today is an important milestone for Sweden and India. Saab’s factory will be the first foreign fully-owned defence production facility in India,” adding that it “a testament to the strong bilateral relationship between our countries.”

Görgen Johansson, Senior Vice President and Head of Saab’s business area Dynamics, said:

“I am proud to start constructing our first facility outside Sweden for Carl-Gustaf, a product that has a long history with the Indian Armed Forces. We look forward to starting production of our excellent product, now engineered and made in India.”

Also announced today was a major contract with Poland with the Polish Ministry of Defence’s procurement authority signing a contract to procure Carl Gustaf M4s valued at SEK 12.9 billion ($1.25 billion). Saab’s CEO and President Micael Johansson said: “I am proud of our close relationship with the Polish Armed Forces and that Saab can continue to strengthen Poland’s ground combat capability and national defence with our world-leading Carl-Gustaf system.”

While the quantities of the contract have not been publicly announced the order indicates a larger scale fielding with the Polish armed forces. Saab expect the contract period to run between Q4 2024 and 2027.