Akaer, one of the largest and leading Brazilian companies in the aerospace engineering market, announced this Wednesday, May 9, it will be a minority shareholder with 10 percent in SAM, aerostructures plant established in São Bernardo do Campo - SP, responsible for producing complex structural parts for Gripen fighter jet acquired by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
Akaer is the only Brazilian company to have share ownership in SAM. Saab and Akaer have been partners since 2009 and the Brazilian company was contracted by Saab to develop parts to the fuselage of the Gripen NG fighter, even before Saab was down-selected for negotiations to re-equip the Brazilian Air Force. Since then, Akaer delivered over 550.000 engineering hours in the Gripen project, both in Brazil and in Sweden, with significant technology transfers
Even before SAM operations starts, Akaer has been active on the implementation of the facility. On top of the all the transfer of technology occurred over the years, Akaer supported Saab to define SAM location, to hire its team, to go through all bureaucratic and legal steps, and to define the facility industrialization processes.
“That is a new milestone for Akaer. In addition to accumulating a lot of experience in a strategic project like Gripen, Akaer moves forward to consolidate itself as a Tier 1 company”, says Cesar Augusto T. Andrade e Silva, founder and CEO of Akaer.