AIRSHOW-Saab puts maritime spy kit on two new Bombardier planes

By Tim Hepher
SINGAPORE, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Sweden's Saab SAABb.ST said
on Wednesday it plans to put its Swordfish maritime patrol
system on two new aerial platforms as demand rises for ways to
tackle maritime threats, including the proliferation of
submarines.
The move to put an enhanced version of its Intelligence,
Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems on new airframes
in partnership with Canada's Bombardier BBDb.TO emerged at the
Singapore Airshow as tensions escalated in the South China Sea.
Saab said the system, currently available on the
out-of-production Saab 2000 turboprop airliner, would now be
offered on Bombardier's Global 6000 business jet and the Q400
turboprop.
"There are several countries that are coming closer and
closer to a procurement process and we are carefully working
together with several of those countries," Joakim Mevius, head
of the business unit for airborne ISR, told Reuters.
Spy planes are on several nations' shopping lists in a
region where complex territorial disputes between China and
several Southeast Asian nations are fuelling security concerns.
On Tuesday, Saab formally launched another militarised
Bombardier business jet, dubbed GlobalEye, after selling the
early warning and control system to the United Arab Emirates in
November.
China has deployed an advanced surface-to-air missile system
to one of the disputed islands it controls in the South China
Sea, Taiwan and U.S. officials said on Wednesday, ratcheting up
tensions. U.S. President Barack Obama urged restraint.
On maritime surveillance duties, the Global 6000 aircraft
will be able to operate for up to eight hours on patrol and fly
up to 1,000 nautical miles from its home base, Mevius said.
The Q400 will be able to stay on patrol for about the same
amount of time and up to 200 nautical miles away from home.
Saab predicts more than 100 submarines will be operating in
the Asia Pacific region by 2020, driving the need for
sub-hunting planes and other types of surveillance.
Boeing (N:BA) BA.N is promoting its P-8 converted 737 passenger
jet for maritime surveillance at the airshow, Asia's largest.