SAAB Aircraft celebrated their 70th anniversary at their home of Linköping, Sweden at the end of August and I have just received their press release and photographs that describe this celebration.

It is important to note that while all SAAB aircraft were present during the celebration, there was one exception which was the SAAB Scandia 90 commercial airliner. The last remaining SAAB Scandia 90 resides at a museum in Bebedouro, Brazil, South America. SAAB tried to buy this for their 50th anniversary in 1987, their 60th in 1997 as well as their recent 70th anniversary this year, but the owners continue to ask for a figure that is deemed unreasonably high time and time again.

Aside from the airplanes, the Saab Performance Team as well as legendary rally champion, Erik “On The Roof” Carlsson were also present amongst other notables for this very special event as you will see in the photographs above.

Here is a press release that describes a segment of this 70th anniversary celebration.

Guests celebrated Saab’s 70th anniversary
8/31/2007

A flyby of Saab’s aircraft started the customer day that is part of Saab’s 70th anniversary. Around 700 customers, partners, suppliers, analysts and media came to join the celebrations.

The VIP day took place at the Saab compound in Linköping, Sweden, on Friday August 31. Åke Svensson, President and CEO of Saab wished everyone a warm welcome.

“It is fantastic to have you here today. I am so proud of this company” he said by way of introduction. A short film about the history of Saab was shown and Åke Svensson spoke about Saab’s development from 1937 to the present day.

”Focus has changed. Previously the emphasis was on one large Swedish customer, today we have broadened our horizons and the internationalisation has increased.”

Saab in the future

The emphasis of the seminar that followed was on the future and what Saab might be working on at the time of the 100th anniversary in 2037. The seminar discussed what the future might hold within civil security and air (unmanned aircraft), sea (naval command and control systems) and land areas (multistatic radar).

Lennart Sindahl, business unit manager for Saab Aerosystems, and Michael Franzén, project manager for UAV operations in the business unit, spoke about the possibilities of unmanned aircraft. In their vision of the future we will be flying with unmanned passenger aircraft several years before Saab celebrates 100 years.

Lars Tossman, business unit manager for Saab Underwater Systems, and Richard Colling, point of contact Sea, spoke about the importance of flexible, autonomous underwater vehicles in the future.

Air show with all still flying Saab planes

The day was rounded off with a flying display featuring nearly all Saab’s aircraft that are still flying: Saab B17, Saab 32 Lansen, Saab 91 Safir, SK60, Saab 35 Draken, Saab 37 Viggen, Saab 39 Gripen and Saab 2000.