Saab opens Vardø office
Already in September this year the Swedish corporation Saab will open its first office in the northernmost Norwegian county of Finnmark, in the coastal town of Vardø. The further expansion of the company in the region will depend on whether the Norwegian government chooses to buy Saabs jet fighter Gripen or not.
According to regional newspaper Finnmark, Saab Microwave Systems AS has been negotiating for a year with Vardø municipality and Vardø ProMor, before an agreement was made this week. Saab is planning to develop Vardø into the center for ocean security in the Barents Sea area. Saab Microwave systems is considered to be among the largest companies developing security systems for ocean, land and air in the Nordic Countries. The company was taken over by Saab AB two years ago.
Saab Microwave Systems AS has high ambitions for expanding the Vardø office, which will have two employees when it opens in September. But the company leader, Anders Thorheim, says that the future of the office depends on whether the Norwegian Government decides to buy jet fighters from Saab or not. If the Government choose other jet fighters then Saabs Gripen, the expansion of the company in the region might go “a bit slower”.
According to Sør-Varanger Avis, Saab also has plans to establish an office in Kirkenes, the Norwegian border town to Russian.
