Saab Wins $202 Million Deal to Arm Sweden's New FDI Frigates

French shipbuilder Naval Group has awarded Saab a contract worth 2 billion Swedish kronor, about $202 million, to supply and integrate weapons, sensors and weapon-control systems for the four FDI frigates it is building for the Swedish Navy. The work runs from 2027 to 2034.

What Saab will supply

The package includes Saab's RBS 15 anti-ship missile, the Saab Lightweight Torpedo, the Trackfire remote weapon station, the Sea Giraffe 1X surveillance radar, the Ceros fire-control director, the EOS 500 electro-optical sensor and a weapon-control system. Mats Wicksell, head of Saab's naval business, said the ships will be able to detect, deter and respond to threats above and below the surface.

The French Navy's first FDI frigate, Amiral Ronarc'h. File photo, CC0.

Sweden's Luleå class

Sweden signed a deal worth about 47 billion kronor ($4.8 billion) with Naval Group for the four ships, which will form the Luleå class. They are meant to strengthen Swedish air and sea defence in the Baltic after the country joined NATO in 2024.

Each frigate is 122 metres long, carries more than 125 crew and a helicopter such as the NH90 plus a drone, and is armed with surface-to-air and anti-ship missiles, lightweight torpedoes and 57 mm and 40 mm guns. Twin MTU engines give a top speed above 26 knots and a range of 5,000 nautical miles.

The deal shows how the FDI program mixes suppliers: a French hull and combat system with Swedish weapons and sensors chosen by the customer.