Saab's advanced UK manufacturing facility in Fareham opened by Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business

The News, Portsmouth

Watch Saab's advanced UK manufacturing facility in Fareham opened by Rt Hon Jonathan Reynolds MP, Secretary of State for Business - The News, Portsmouth on Dailymotion

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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

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