LINKOPING, Sweden, May 21, 2002 (PRIMEZONE) -- Today, Lord Bach, the British Minister for Defence Procurement, announced at a press conference in Glenrothes, Scotland, that Saab Bofors Dynamics has been appointed as preferred supplier of the Next Generation Light Anti- Armour Weapon Programme (NLAW) for the British and the Swedish armies.
The contract, which is subject to final negotiation, is worth about 4.0 billion SEK including development and mass production. The development will take place mainly in Sweden with production mainly in Great Britain.
"We are delighted and proud that the British and the Swedish armies have appointed us as supplier. It confirms that we are world leaders in the area of light anti-armour weapons," said Ingemar Andersson CEO for Saab Bofors Dynamics.
The contract is for joint development in order to meet both Great Britain and Sweden's requirements, with mass production for Great Britain. Sweden has an option for varying production quantities that will be taken up later.
The British programme is called the Next Generation Light Anti-Armour Weapon (NLAW) and the Saab Bofors Dynamics product will be called MBT LAW.
Development work will be carried out mainly in Eskilstuna and Karlskoga in Sweden. A team of 14 British companies, spread throughout Great Britain, have been formed for production. Final assembly will be done at Thales Air Defence Ltd., in Belfast, Northern Ireland.
MBT LAW is a light, one-man, anti-armour weapon built on proven technology from the company's existing BILL 2 and AT4CS products.
Saab is one of the world's leading high-technology companies, with its main operations focusing on defence, aviation and space. The group covers a broad spectrum of competence and capabilities in systems integration.
For further information, please contact: Anders Florenius, Information manager, Saab Bofors Dynamics AB Phone: +46 586 81223 +46 70 58 23 230 www.saab.se
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