Meopta deepens cooperation with Swedish defence industry
Meopta, company with a long tradition of developing, manufacturing and assembling world class optical, opto-mechanical and optoelectronic products, is deepening the cooperation with the defence companies from Sweden.
Recently Meopta has signed deal with Swedish defence and security company Saab for production of red dot signs, contract worth more than 70 MCZK. Red Dot Sight is an optical aiming device designed for rapid targeting of any weapon systems and they will be installed on Carl-Gustaf® M4 rocket launchers. The deliveries started this year and will run until 2022, whereas a new 2023-2025 contract is being discussed already now. These contracts follow previous contract signed in 2015 for deliveries of more than 3600 pcs of red dot sights supplied to Saab from 2015 till today.
“We see the cooperation with Swedish companies, both BAE Systems Hägglunds and Saab, as a long term partnership. The ongoing and future business potential represent a stable, long term business co-operation and secures jobs within this very specialized area. Meopta evaluates the existing cooperation very positively and looks forwards to future opportunities. “says Pavel Stastny, Senior Director Sales & Marketing from Meopta.
The ongoing IFV tender for Czech Armed Forces is also very important for Meopta. Czech Ministry of Defence has emphasized several times that industrial cooperation and the involvement of the Czech defence companies will be considered as important criteria when evaluating the offers for new military vehicles. Meopta has already now established concrete forms of cooperation with BAE Systems Hägglunds, producer of CV90 vehicles. The core of the cooperation consists of producing of UTAAS (The Universal Tank and Anti-Aircraft System, developed by Saab). UTAAS is a versatile sight and fire control system for tanks and combat vehicles, including CV90. Meopta has already been contracted to produce components to be exported to the Swiss and Dutch CV90 programs. These days CV90 is undergoing military tests in Czech Republic with impressive results. Should CV90 become the winner of the IFV tender, Meopta will become global supplier of UTAAS and UTAAS spare parts.
The cooperation between Meopta and Saab goes back to early 00´s when The Gripen Industrial Cooperation Programme was successfully running in the Czech Republic as part of the Gripen lease contract. At that time, Meopta started to export the optical components to Sweden and the systems from Prerov company have been installed on Gripen C/D fighters. The cooperation between Meopta and Saab then spilled over to other areas and lasts until these days. Since 2019 Meopta has been delivering alignment equipment for Naval CEROS sights to Saab´s worldwide naval customers. Meopta also supplies Saab with the sights for Carl-Gustaf® M4, used for example by US Special Forces in Afghanistan.
The cooperation between Meopta and Swedish companies goes beyond manufacturing of optical systems. The companies have identified joint research and development projects in the field of optical solutions for land / air and naval applications to bring new innovative solutions to the market. Together with Saab, Meopta is also looking into possibilities how to improve the optical modules used in UTAAS.
All the past, ongoing and future projects between Meopta, BAE Systems Hägglunds and Saab confirm the long term partnership between the Czech and Swedish Defence Industry and the willingness to build these partnerships further, securing profit and jobs for Meopta.
