The procurement in Peru has been ongoing for a long time and has pointed in different directions, both to the advantage and disadvantage of Swedish Saab in competition with American Lockheed Martin. However, on Wednesday, Reuters reported that Peru has now made a first installment payment for American fighter jets equivalent to 4.3 billion kronor.
This comes as the country's defense and foreign ministers have both resigned in protest over how the president handled the affair.
I can only observe what the media writes here, and if it is the case that Peru has now moved forward with the F-16, we must respect that, of course, but we still think we had the absolute best offer, comments Micael Johansson.
Resolve the situation
According to Micael Johansson, the company's team on-site in Peru is currently working to sort out the situation.
We are, of course, trying to establish the facts as best we can, but I actually have nothing more to give right now.
Saab signed a deal to deliver 17 Gripen aircraft to Colombia in November last year. A deal with Peru is said to include 24 fighter jets with an order value of over SEK 30 billion.
In Saab's interim report for the first quarter, Saab's CEO states that "growth was strong for medium-sized orders, while fewer large orders were received during the quarter."
Rapid development
What would such an order mean from a broader perspective, beyond the order value itself?
Every Gripen deal is, of course, important; there is no doubt about that. But this deal is not crucial in any way for our strength in the region or for our ramping up of Gripen production. We are going to deliver to Sweden, Brazil, Hungary and Thailand right now.
The defense group Saab has seen rapid growth since the outbreak of the Ukraine war, and, among other things, its share has risen almost 300 percent in the last three years. For the latest quarter, it reports an order intake of SEK 18.2 billion and an operating profit of SEK 1.9 billion.
