Weapon-making companies have started to actively increase their production capacities, especially those who managed to prove the effectiveness of their equipment in real combat. Swedish Saab announced that it would double the production of NLAW to 400,000 systems yearly.
This will be the second consecutive increase, as follows from the statement by Saab CEO Micael Johansson, as delivered by Breaking Defense.
Read more: Javelin vs NLAW: Ukrainian Soldier Explains from Own Experience which of the Two is More Effective Against Russian Armored Targets
In the context of how we have doubled capacity from one year to the next at our Swedish sites…and by 2025 we will have doubled capacity again, then it will be possible to generate 400,000 units from our sites per year," said Johansson.
Given that data, we can as well find out what were the volumes of production before the start of russian invasion of Ukraine, which makes a point here as long as NLAWs provided mostly by the UK government have been one of the most-used anti-tank weapons of the Ukrainian army, especially in the first weeks of hostilities.
Turns out, Saab had made about 100,000 NLAWs yearly before the war broke out, and throughout 2022, the production capacity has grown to 200,000, now poised to become 400,000 yearly.
Such a demand for this weapon comes not only from Great Britain and Sweden which have sent many NLAWs from their stocks to Ukraine but other customers worldwide, too. Johansson mentioned that London alone provided 10,000 missiles, and awarded a $280-million contract to replenish the stocks at the end of 2022.
In fact, with production rates of 400,000 yearly, NLAW has turned into a true bestseller on the arms market, because in 2021, only eight countries had this anti-tank weapon in service. And most likely, Saab already has some potential big contract offers from other countries as well.
Read more: From Luxemburg With NLAW: How the Smallest Army in Europe Helped Ukraine Destroy russia’s Tanks
