NLAW - Program

Since 2009 the NLAW has found an eager clientele across Europe, with significant orders from Sweden, Finland, Luxembourg and the UK, where it’s designated the MBT LAW. An Invitation To Tender for the competitive Project Definition stage of the project was issued on September 1997 and bids were received from Matra BAe Dynamics UK Ltd., Bofors Anti-Armour AB and Dynamit Nobel Gmbh. Bofors Carl-Gustaf SAB of Sweden offered the MBT LAW and Matra Bae Dynamics UK Ltd, based in Stevenage, offered the Kestrel weapon system. The Project Definition phase will last around 22 months, during which both companies will develop their proposals for the Full Development and Production phase. The contracts also include development work and demonstration of the proposed solutions, together with other risk reduction activities. Following an assessment of the resulting proposals, a single contract for Full Development and Production was awarded in 2002.

Saab Bofors Dynamics Ltd (SBD) was selected as the preferred bidder for the armed forces Next Generation Light Anti-Armour Weapons (NLAW) following a competition. Designed by Saab in Sweden and assembled by Thales in the UK, the NLAW was developed with a team of 14 British companies situated in the north of England. Selection of the Saab weapon, known as MBT-LAW, presented an excellent opportunity 755Wfor United Kingdom industry and was expected to create or sustain more than 500 jobs across the United Kingdom. The weapon also has significant export potential. The program was undertaken in collaboration with the Kingdom of Sweden, enhancing ties with an EU partner.

The NLAW project had a total value in excess of Pounds Sterling 300m, for an acqusition of 14,002 units. It was planned to enter service in 2006 to replace the current light anti-armour weapon, LAW 80, which was last produced in 1993. The delay to NLAW's ISD is due to reliability problems encountered by SBD in the completion of sub-system and system qualification. The main issues were: inadequate watertightness; poor reliability of the warhead arming function, including the Safe Arming Device; and trajectory variations. In order to resolve these issues, the MOD has adopted a range of measures to arrest the delays, agree requirement trade-offs where appropriate, drive realism into the company's estimates and incentivise the Contractor; this included SBD's President and CDM (and his predecessor) personally agreeing anchor milestones, and withholding progress payments and other such measures under the contract that was re-baselined in November 2007. While the problems with the project have been caused by technical performance issues, an interim capability was available to cover current operations; this enabled the Department to extend the program to address performance shortfalls.

The project had been subject to a number of independent technical reviews which confirmed that the design concept is sound. In addition, the DE&S Project Rehabilitation Unit reviewed NLAW to ensure that the project was well placed to deliver its future challenges.

Defence and security company Saab received an order from the Finnish Defence Forces for the Next generation Light Anti-Tank Weapon system (NLAW). Deliveries took place during 2017. The Finnish Defence Forces had been a user of the NLAW weapon system since 2007, then becoming the second export customer of the system. This order is a call-up of an option as part of a previous contract with the customer, announced in 2015, regarding delivery of NLAW weapon systems. “The interest for our NLAW system has increased significantly in recent years. This order is a strong proof of this and we look forward to deliver a high capability weapon system to the Finnish Defence Forces. NLAW provides the single soldier with a true anti-tank capability, previously not available on the battlefield”, says Görgen Johansson, head of Saab´s business area Dynamics. During the recently held military exercise Aurora 17, in Sweden, the NLAW system was used by both Swedish and Finnish forces.

“There is an increased interest and demand for lightweight anti-tank weapons on the market and this order is a strong proof of our customers trust in the NLAW system” says Görgen Johansson, head of Saab business area Dynamics. “In many countries, there has been a large focus the last decade on building up the capability to fight a war on terror, but we now see that many countries again also realize that the capability to fight a modern mechanized enemy, on an individual soldier level, is becoming more and more important. A system like NLAW provides that capability”, says Görgen Johansson.