There is plenty of money and very little time
Saab's Surveillance division alone generated €27.3B in 2025, matching the entire company's 2015 revenue, driven by geopolitical instability and military modernization demands. Brazil has become Saab's primary Latin American anchor, hosting the first Gripen production line outside Sweden and serving as a supply chain hub for global orders including Ukraine and Colombia.
- Saab's Surveillance division generated 27.3 billion Swedish kronor in 2025, matching the entire company's 2015 revenue
- Brazil opened the first Gripen fighter jet production line outside Sweden in May 2023, producing 15 aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force
- Colombia signed a 3.1 billion euro contract for 17 Gripen E/F fighters in November 2025, with deliveries between 2026 and 2032
- Ukraine plans to acquire up to 20 Gripen E/F fighters and receive 16 Gripen C/D aircraft as Swedish donations, announced May 28, 2026
Swedish defense contractor Saab reports record revenues amid global conflicts, positioning Brazil as a strategic hub for Gripen fighter jet production and regional expansion across Latin America.
Saab, the Swedish defense contractor founded in 1937 to build warplanes for a nation bracing for conflict, finds itself in a moment that mirrors its own origins. The company gathered journalists from across the region—ten of them from Brazil alone—at its facilities in Gothenburg, Karlskoga, Linköping, and Stockholm to discuss a simple fact: global instability is very good for business.
The numbers tell the story. In 2015, Saab's entire operation generated roughly 27.2 billion Swedish kronor. In 2025, just one division—the Surveillance unit focused on radars and sensors—pulled in 27.3 billion kronor. Linus Rydberg, the division's chief strategy officer, described the shift plainly: "Before, research funding was scarce. Today, there is plenty of money and very little time."
The geopolitical arithmetic is straightforward. Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea barely registered as a warning. Eight years later, the invasion of Ukraine changed the calculus entirely. Then came the Israel-Hamas conflict, followed by American and Israeli strikes on Iran that sent oil prices spiking when the Strait of Hormuz tightened. Each crisis opened a new market. Each conflict validated the need for what Saab makes.
But the nature of warfare itself has shifted, and Saab has moved to meet it. Drones now dominate battlefields, particularly in Ukraine, where inexpensive unmanned systems have exposed a brutal cost asymmetry: defending against a drone that costs thousands of dollars by firing a missile worth millions. In response, Saab unveiled the Nimbrix in late 2025, a new missile designed to counter drone swarms efficiently and affordably. Production has begun. Deliveries start next year. Tove Hanby, the government accounts manager for Saab Dynamics, the weapons division, could not discuss specific orders, but the message was clear: the company is racing to supply what modern militaries now desperately need.
Brazil has emerged as the linchpin of Saab's expansion strategy. The country is not caught in Europe's wars, yet it has become central to Saab's global ambitions. In May 2023, Saab and Embraer opened the first Gripen fighter jet production line outside Sweden at a facility in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo. Fifteen aircraft are being built for the Brazilian Air Force. The plant also serves as a supply hub for global orders—a fact that took on new weight when Sweden announced in late May that Ukraine would acquire up to twenty Gripen E/F fighters and receive sixteen older Gripen C/D models as donations. The Brazilian facility could help fulfill those orders.
Ana Paula Cordeiro, Saab's vice president for business development in Brazil, framed the strategy in terms of permanence rather than transaction. "This is not about selling something and leaving," she said. "It is about building long-term relationships." Brazil exemplifies that approach: knowledge transfer, professional training, integration into the global supply chain. The company is now exploring similar partnerships in Colombia and Chile, where defense budgets are rising as regional governments respond to the same global instability that has enriched Saab.
Colombia has already signed on. In November 2025, Saab secured a contract for seventeen Gripen E/F fighters worth 3.1 billion euros, with deliveries scheduled between 2026 and 2032. The Brazilian production line may support that order as well. Meanwhile, Saab's equipment already protects Brazilian airspace—radars and sensors maintained security during major sporting events and the COP30 climate conference in Belém.
The company's executives repeatedly invoked the phrase "new threats" during their presentations. The threats are real enough: cyber warfare, drone armies, artificial intelligence reshaping combat. But for Saab, these threats have become opportunity. A company born during European rearmament on the eve of World War II has found itself, nearly ninety years later, positioned at the center of a new global arms race, with Brazil serving as its anchor in a region that is finally, reluctantly, beginning to spend.
Citas Notables
Saab today is living through a moment that resembles the period when it was founded in 1937— Linus Rydberg, Chief Strategy Officer, Saab Surveillance
This is not about selling something and leaving, but about building long-term relationships— Ana Paula Cordeiro, Vice President of Business Development, Saab Brasil
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does Brazil matter so much to Saab? It's not at war, not in Europe's sphere of conflict.
Because Saab isn't just selling jets to Brazil. They're building a factory there, training people, embedding themselves in the supply chain. When Ukraine needs Gripens or Colombia orders them, Brazil becomes part of how those orders get fulfilled. It's about permanence, not a transaction.
So the Brazilian facility is less about the Brazilian market and more about global reach?
Exactly. It's the first Gripen production line outside Sweden since 1937. That's not accidental. It signals that Saab can manufacture globally, that they're not dependent on Swedish capacity alone. It also signals to other countries in Latin America that Saab is serious about the region.
The article mentions artificial intelligence and drone countermeasures. How much of Saab's growth is driven by these new technologies versus traditional weapons?
The Nimbrix missile is the clearest example. Drones have exposed a cost problem—you spend millions to shoot down something that costs thousands. Saab saw that gap and built a product to fill it. That's the future. But it's not replacing traditional weapons. It's adding to the arsenal.
One division's 2025 revenue equals the entire company's 2015 revenue. That's staggering growth in a decade. Is that sustainable?
It depends on whether global instability persists. The company's executives kept saying there's "plenty of money and very little time." That suggests they're racing to capitalize on a window. If conflicts cool, so does demand. But right now, every crisis—Ukraine, Iran, regional tensions—opens new markets.
What does it mean that Saab was founded during European rearmament before World War II?
It means the company has always existed in the shadow of conflict. It was born to prepare for war. Now, nearly ninety years later, it's positioned at the center of a new arms race. The irony is that the company's original purpose—building capacity for defense—has become its greatest asset in a fractured world.