Saab receives new anti-tank weapon order

The Finnish defence forces award Saab an order for the new anti-tank weapon NLAW. The order is valued at 38 million Euros.

12/20/2007 | Besides Great Britain and Sweden, Finland is the first export customer for NLAW (Next Generation Light Anti-tank Weapon). NLAW will be delivered to Finland during 2009.

“This is strategically important and opens up for further exports of NLAW”, says Jim Nilsson, Marketing Director at Saab Bofors Dynamics. “The Finnish customer is known to carry out extensive and thorough studies and evaluations before acquisitions and the decision to obtain NLAW is seen as a great success.”

Common development by Sweden and Great Britain

NLAW is a light, one-man-portable, disposable, guided fire and forget anti-tank weapon. NLAW is a Swedish and British development collaboration with a purpose of providing the Swedish and British armies with the next generation anti-tank weapon. Deliveries to both countries will start 2008. NLAW is developed by Saab Bofors Dynamics and manufactured by Thales Air Defence Ltd.

Finland has followed the development since 2004 and NLAW has been thoroughly evaluated and tested by the Finnish defence forces.

Contract in fierce international competition

Five years have passed since the Swedish-British contract for NLAW was won against very tough international competition. The contract was worth approximately 4 billion SEK. NLAW builds on the well proven technology and characteristics of the existing weapons, the BILL 2 medium range anti-tank missile and the AT4CS anti-tank weapon, both previously developed by Saab Bofors Dynamics.

Facts about NLAW in brief NLAW is the first ever single soldier missile system that rapidly knocks out any Main Battle Tank (MBT) with just one shot by striking it from above. The NLAW system comprises a high performance and easy to use combat weapon and an innovative and cost effective training system. The weapon is intended for deployment with and firing by a single soldier.