Saab to Accelerate Submarine Production to Meet Poland's Defense Needs

Saab's Production Strategy for A-26 Submarines

SALEN, Sweden, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Saab will parallelize production at multiple manufacturing plants for its new A-26 submarines in order to meet delivery targets for three vessels Poland has decided to buy, the company's CEO said on Monday.

Poland's Submarine Acquisition

Poland said in November it had chosen Sweden's Saab to supply it with three submarines, in a multi-billion-dollar deal that forms a key element of Warsaw's efforts to bolster its defences in the Baltic Sea.

Production Locations and Maintenance Plans

Poland said the first submarine would be delivered in 2030, but some analysts see it as a tight time frame. Sweden has also ordered two submarines

Saab CEO Micael Johansson said the company had taken investments to be able to produce sections of the new submarines in more than one location.

"We will absolutely parallelize production to increase capacity," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an annual security conference in Northern Sweden, adding that parts of the submarine would be manufactured at the plant in Landskrona.

Johansson also said maintenance, some upgrades and yearly controls would also be done at a shipyard in Poland.

"We will have two assets for that, one on the Swedish and one on the Polish side," he said.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; editing by Diane Craft)