Conference turris::scandia

    From: [email protected]
    Newsgroups: clari.tw.electronics,clari.news.europe,clari.tw.computers
    Subject: EDS signs agreement with Saab Automobile
    Date: 9 Nov 90 20:54:42 GMT
 
 
    	DALLAS (UPI) -- Electronic Data Systems announced a $300 million
    agreement Friday with Sweden's Saab Automobile AB, under which EDS will
    handle all systems information work and future applications development
    for Saab.
    
    	The agreement also includes the transfer of 250 Saab data
    processing employees to EDS, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of
    General Motors Corp.  The 10-year Saab agreement is a first for EDS in
    Sweden and will form a base for EDS' expansion into the Swedish market,
    the company said.
    
    	"EDS is able to offer highly competitive systems management
    services," said Saab President David Herman, "and its international
    expertise, particularly in the automotive industry, will provide us
    with exciting new opportunities in the '90s."
    
    	"The agreement with Saab Automobile is a natural progression for
    our business in Europe and further enforces our push into the important
    Swedish market," said Juergen Berg, EDS managing director for Europe. 
    "It represents not only a gain in business, but a tremendous skills
    enhancement for EDS with the addition of some 250 highly experienced
    Saab personnel."
    
    	Saab sells some 100,000 premium-priced Swedish-made cars a year,
    employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide and had turnover of $2.5
    billion in 1989.

    What this piece of news *doesn't* say is that 50% of Saab is owned by
    GM... and as far as I remember, Mr. Herman was put in place bu GM.
    
    The Saab plant in Finland manufactures Opel Calibra, a GM car.
    

    Could someone supply more information please:
    
    Of what SAAB section does GM own 50% ?
    
    50% OF SAAB Scania division (autos, trucks, busses)
    50% of SAAB USA ?
    50% of all SAAB ?
    
    SAAB = Svenska Aeroplane AB
    GM   = General Motors
    
    Any news about SAAB jet planes Draken (old), Viggen (newer)
    and JAS-39  (newest?)
    
    What about the SAAB/Fairchild joint venture in commercial jets?
    Is it over/done/kaput ? Is/was it called the SAAB SF340 ?
    
    thanks....just wondering

    GM owns 50% of auto division only, not trucks,busses.
    
    What news about the SAAB fighter jets do you want? Both the 37 "Draken"
    and the 39 "Viggen" are still doing active duty. The second prototype
    of the JAS-39 "Gripen" (now nicknamed "the screw") is flying and
    testing. The first order of 40? planes to the airforse still stands but
    the second order (dont't rember for how many) is delayd. It's due to
    politics and the change of changed situation in europe.
    
    The SAAB-Fairchild joint venture (called SF340) is now 100% ownd by
    SAAB i think, and it is a commercial succes. Think it's sells good in
    the US for domestic flights.

    Thank you for the jet information.
    How did the JAS-39 earn a nickname like that?
    Its ability to turn on a dime, using its forward winglets?
    

    No, it got that nickname when the first prottype crached. It went just
    like a screw al along the airstrip roling aroud something like 9 or 10
    times. Luckely the pilot escape with just a broken arm and minor
    bruces and that was not what you expected after seeing the crach on TV.
    
    P 

    An episode of Living Dangerously (or Wings Over the World?)
    was televised last nite, titled "Aviation and Swedish Neutrality".
    It was very informative, containing lots of information not to be
    found even in some of the SAAB's corporate promotional books.
    
    Apparently Ernest Heinkle (sp?) of Germany formed one Swedish
    Aeroplane Company after WW1. It was somewhat shrouded in secrecy,
    perhaps due to Versailles Treaty etc.? Later this Heinkle firm went
    bankrupt and out of business. Then in response military developments,
    firm ASJA (?) was formed. Later, the eventual "real" SAAB was formed.
    In the late 1930's, ASJA was merged into SAAB, as WW2 loomed.
    
    One real surprise mentioned was that during the (Congolese)
    Katanga secession, the Swedish Air Force, under UN-flag and
    UN-authority, and using SAAB's stunning "barrel jets" (J-9 ??)
    decimated or totally eliminated the Katangan air force in Africa
    in a period of only a few minutes.
    
    The documentary also said that, ironically, the first
    airplane shot down in WW2 was a German Heinkle knocked out
    by a plane earlier designed and built by Mr. Heinkle's own
    Swedish Aeroplane Company. It was unclear whether there
    was any direct connection between Heinkle's original Swedish
    firm, and the modern company we know as SAAB.
     
    Also, the film claimed that the world's first aircraft
    pilot ejection-seat was developed for a SAAB pusher-prop,
    twin-tailed aircraft, in the 1940's I think.
    

>    One real surprise mentioned was that during the (Congolese)
>    Katanga secession, the Swedish Air Force, under UN-flag and
>    UN-authority, and using SAAB's stunning "barrel jets" (J-9 ??)
>    decimated or totally eliminated the Katangan air force in Africa
>    in a period of only a few minutes.

     It was the J-29 "Tunnan" (barrel). For it's time  it was quite
     good. By some it was even considered to be better than the famous
     F-86. In fact it held several world records (speed records on 
     "closed circuit's" (sp?)) I think that the first flight was in
     1948 but I am not quite sure.

>    The documentary also said that, ironically, the first
>    airplane shot down in WW2 was a German Heinkle knocked out
>    by a plane earlier designed and built by Mr. Heinkle's own
>    Swedish Aeroplane Company. It was unclear whether there
>    was any direct connection between Heinkle's original Swedish
>    firm, and the modern company we know as SAAB.

     I not _absolutly_ sure, but it highly unlikely considering the 
     standard of the aircraft's produced in Sweden before WW2. Unless
     we might be talking of some aircraft that might have found there
     way to Poland (I am among the ones that think that world war
     started when Hitler couldn't keep his hands off Poland, and went 
     to war with England and France).
     
>    Also, the film claimed that the world's first aircraft
>    pilot ejection-seat was developed for a SAAB pusher-prop,
>    twin-tailed aircraft, in the 1940's I think. 

     Not unlikely. I know that when the aircraft (J-21) was designed
     (before and during WW2) there were several suggestions on how
     to enable the pilot to leave the aircraft in a safe way. One
     suggestion was to let him jump through a hole in the aircraft's
     floor. But later the "katapult stolen" (ejection-seat) was chosen.
     The engine in the J-21 was by the way a German Benz 605. The
     J-21 was later converted to the R-21 with jet propulsion. But that 
     version didn't last very long as the much better J-29 did arrive 
     only a couple of year later.


	Kjell
    
	

    Apparently the Wallenberg family will be buying
    up SAAB, or SAAB/Scania? This was on the CNN TV
    news last night. The family already has significant
    control of SAAB through ownership of stock with
    preferred voting rights. CNN speculated that
    changes in Swedish (stock?) regulations, or SAAB's
    cash-heavy position, are prompting the purchase.
    CNN also suggested the change may cause SAAB to sell
    off some of its divisions, perhaps to GM (General Motors).
    Are the Wallenbergs Danish, Swedish, Dutch, or what?
    Weren't some of the family known for resistance/escape
    activities during WW2?
    

                      <<< Note 21.9 by TARKIN::MCALLEN >>>
                           -< SAAB to be purchased? >-

>>    Are the Wallenbergs Danish, Swedish, Dutch, or what?

They are Swedish.  Their rise to fame (and some not inconsiderable wealth)
comes from Knut Wallenberg who founded Stockholms Enskilda Bank (later merged
with Skandinaviska Banken to form Skandinaviska Enskilda Banken, a.k.a.
SE-banken) in the mid ninetennth century.  They are the wealthiest family in
Sweden.

>>    Weren't some of the family known for resistance/escape
>>    activities during WW2?

Yes and no.  None of the family was, as far as I know, involved in resistance
activities at all. Also, I don't believe that any of them was involved in
escape activites during WW II.  After WW II, however, Raoul Wallenberg, working
for the then-new UN, was heavily involved in helping refugees in Eastern
Europe.  Some time in 1947 (?) he "disappeared".  Rumor has it that he was
kidnapped by the Soviets and died in a Siberian prison camp; the Soviets have
always denied all knowledge of his whereabouts.

I don't know if any of the family were volunteers in the Finland-Soviet war in
the early forties; it was not unusual for Swedes to volunteer (on the Finnish
side, I hasten to add).

    re .10
    
    I wonder if there may be some confusion between Raoul Wallenberg and
    Folke Bernadotte.
    
    The Wallenbergs as a family tended to be pro German in the '30's. It is
    not clear how far into the war these sympathies lasted. Raoul, however,
    was the grand exception; he really put his "money where his mouth was".
    During the last period of the war he entered into Germany (working as a
    representative of Sweden), and organized a quite extensive rescue
    operation of Jews; especially in Hungary, as I recall. Raoul 
    performed this work with some success, using diplomatic skills and
    family connections for all they were worth. It is estimated that
    several hundred thousand Jews managed to survive the Holocaust due to
    his personal efforts. 
    
    During the final, confusing days of WW II in central Europe (March,
    April, May of '45) Raoul was still working away at this task. He was
    still organizing escapes as the Red Army came into Central Europe. In
    this confusion, he "disappeared". No one knows why he should have been
    detained by the Russians, but he evidently was. The date 1947, I
    believe, is the date that the Russians claimed that he had died (of
    natural causes---sickness---they said).
    
    Now as to Folke Bernadotte, he was a member of the royal family, as the
    name indicates. He did indeed work for the UN, and in the time frame
    1947; however he did his work in (then) Palestine (now Israel). He was
    primarily doing humanitarian work, but was killed by Jewish
    nationalists/terrorists/freedom-fighters (pick the designation that
    suits you). I vaguely seem to recall that the perpetrators may have
    been the Stern Gang, led at that time by Menachim Begin; perhaps
    someone else knows more about this. I don't believe he was killed as a
    personal assasination, but rather as part of a bigger operation. There
    is, however, a large cloud of uncertainty surrounding his death.
    
    An ironic set of parallel fates.
    
    Mauritz
    

    re .11
    
    In re-reading the text, it just occured to me that Raoul (AND also
    possibly Folke Bernadotte) worked under the auspicies of the Red Cross
    and not the Swedish government or the UN respectively (though a bit
    uncertain about Bernadotte---it may have been the UN).
    
    Mauritz
    

            STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) -- The Swedish-based automaker Saab will
    recall 36,000 of its 900-series cars worldwide because of faults
    with the front seat, the company said Wednesday.
            The recall will affect 10,584 models sold in the United States.
    It was prompted by a request from the supplier, LEAR Seating, and
    applies to late 1994 and early 1995 models.
            Saab said in a statement that LEAR, which produced the seats in
    Sweden, had discovered a construction problem in roughly .5 percent
    of the seats, corresponding to between 100 and 150 autos.
            The company said the seats may have had an insufficient number
    of arc welds, making them too weak to support heavy weights. There
    have no reports of problems or injuries because of the problem,
    which was discovered during an internal quality check, it said.
            The owners will be contacted directly by Saab. The cost of
    inspection, and any eventual replacements, will be covered by Saab,
    the company said.
            A spokeswoman for Saab Cars USA, Elke Martin, declined to say
    how much the recall might cost.
            The action follows a Saab recall last July to inspect possibly
    faulty brake lights and oil cooling system. That recall affected
    more than 92,000 of its top-of-the-line 9000 models sold worldwide.
            Saab Automobile is owned jointly by Saab-Scania AB of Sweden
    and General Motors Corp. of the U.S. Last October the company reported
    nine-month profits of 144 million kronor (about $20 million).