Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Good afternoon everybody. My name is Andy Fraser. I'm the Managing Director of Saab
00:05in the UK. I'm absolutely delighted to see so many people, so many friends of Saab
00:11here to join us to celebrate this event today. We have the pleasure of being
00:15joined by two very important people. So we have the Secretary of State for
00:20the Department of Business and Trade, Jonny Reynolds. Delighted to have you here.
00:24We're also joined by our Group CEO, Michael Johansson, who I'll hand over to now.
00:28Michael.
00:36Thank you Andy. It is absolutely great to be here and as I said to the
00:41Secretary of State, I sort of had to admit that being in 39 years with the company,
00:46this is my first time here, which is a bit awkward, but it's great to be here
00:51and now when we have invested so much in building these new facilities and
00:57transfer technology and all that, it's so important to us. And I must say that
01:02particularly thanks to the Secretary of State for spending your time here today
01:06and also of course the Royal Air Force and the Royal Artillery and also DEC in
01:11Oliver Harry somewhere, who is really, really supporting us in a number of campaigns
01:19across the world. I think people don't understand that the Defence and Security
01:24Export Organisation from the UK is actually instrumental to us on the big campaigns abroad,
01:32both when it comes to the Gripen fighter campaigns, but also other things.
01:37I won't sort of be quoted now, but I mean you have a very sort of comprehensive organisation
01:43and of course you have a good relationship with the Swedish side, but we don't have this in
01:47Sweden to the same extent. So also from that perspective, of course, our business in the UK
01:53is incredibly important to us. UK is instrumental, I think, looking at this facility, what we have
02:00here, thinking about what we've seen lately, the sabotage on critical underwater infrastructure
02:09and I'm thinking going dual use with the underwater vehicle capability,
02:16both sort of remotely operated of course, but also autonomous, is the future. There will be
02:23a huge market out there and we just have to find out who is the customer, because it's not obvious
02:29when you go into international waters and who has actually deployed the cables and all that,
02:33but there's a huge market out there, I'm sure. So we're going to do more here in Farhan to make
02:40sure that we have a dual use capability going forward. And then we have the sensor capability.
02:46We of course need capacity, looking at the demand that we have since the war in Ukraine
02:51broke out, the tragic war. These sensors are already in Ukraine and they are making a difference.
02:58We need the capacity to manufacture more and of course I want to see this site also being one of
03:03the innovation hubs in these areas going forward. So this is an incredibly important day for me,
03:09this is a milestone to sort of inaugurate the whole thing after this investment. So I really
03:15look forward to that. So what you do is in the centre of the storm, so to say, and of course we
03:23are prepared to invest more to increase capacity here going forward, so that's really important.
03:28So to all of you that have worked so hard to get us where we are today, I'm really proud of you
03:35and thank you so much for the commitment and the effort you've placed into this to get to this
03:42point. And I'm sure that we will have a great future together and this is a great moment for
03:48SAAB and also for myself, a big milestone. So thank you all of you and by that I want to hand
03:54over to the Secretary of State. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you Michael, thank you Andy
04:05for the incredible visit that I've had here today. I mean I will let you know as the Secretary of
04:11State for Business and Trade, you get to visit some pretty great stuff right, you get to basically
04:15go wherever you want and see what's going on there. And I have been so impressed by what I've seen
04:21here today, I really mean that. I hope you are aware of just how proud, how innovative, how exciting
04:26what is going on here really is because you know the UK has an incredible history in areas like
04:33radar detection, it's an incredible part of our national story of the defence of the United Kingdom
04:39and what that means. But to see the contemporary offer here in that area but also when it comes
04:44to essential UK infrastructure and energy for instance in offshore facilities and in what we
04:50see on the radar side, look I think it is absolutely tremendous and brilliant. I feel excited, I feel
04:55reassured and I feel optimistic for the future in terms of what this relationship will bring about.
05:01I would argue that the defence and advanced manufacturing sectors of the UK have never been
05:08more important. What we see going around the world, what we see in terms of the potential threat to
05:13the United Kingdom here at home, you know there are things we've got to be cognisant of and worried
05:17about and we've got to know we've got the capability and we've got the sovereignty, the innovation
05:23that allows us to have some faith in our own security in future and that's what I've seen
05:28here today. I can't tell you how important that is and look, deterrence is always cheaper than
05:34the alternative and that is what we've got to consider when we look at how challenging
05:38the world is today. So for me, for you to say those very kind things about the support you get
05:42from my department means a lot to me but I hope most of all everyone here today, everyone who's
05:48involved in this incredible facility is aware of just how important it is. Of course that the 100
05:53million pounds of investment, the 150 new jobs, I like all that very much as business secretary too
05:58but I genuinely believe what I have seen here today is of real importance to all of the United
06:03Kingdom, to NATO, to the security of Europe and our friends and allies around the world. So a
06:09massive thank you from me for being able to come and visit, for sharing this with you, for being
06:13able to ask some lamest questions about how some of the technology works here around that. I've
06:17really enjoyed it and it's incredibly important so a massive thank you from me and I'm looking
06:22forward to unveiling what I think might be the first plaque I've unveiled as a Secretary of State
06:27which is very important as well. So thank you very much, thanks.
06:43Three, two, one.
06:57you