Saab expands DeWitt executive’s role

DeWITT, N.Y. — The man currently serving as president and CEO of Saab Defense and Security USA LLC in DeWitt now has an additional role.

Saab says Erik Smith will also assume the position as head of market area North America.

In this expanded role, Smith will be the senior Saab executive in North America, responsible for local market leadership in the U.S. and Canada, Saab said in a Monday news release.

Smith has more than 18 years of aerospace and defense-industry experience in the marketplace. Since joining Saab in 2007, he has held positions within the company’s marketing and sales, contract, and program-management organizations.

Based in DeWitt, Saab Defense and Security USA focuses primarily on the U.S. market and customer base.

From its headquarters in Ottawa, Ontario, Saab Canada, Inc. supports the Canadian armed forces and government customers, the company said.

Saab’s defense offerings in the North-American region “span the entire Saab product portfolio,” per the release. They include high-tech products such as the Gripen fighter; unmanned vehicles; command and control systems; radar and sensors; intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR); airborne early warning (AEW) platforms and systems; tactical weapons and missile systems; training solutions as signature management.

In the commercial-aerospace segment, Saab provides aerostructures manufacturing, avionics systems, and traffic-management products in the aviation and marine markets, along with support and services for the regional airline market.

Saab acquired DeWitt–based Sensis Corp. in 2011 and split the corporation into two units — Saab Defense and Security on Enterprise Parkway and the Saab Sensis air-traffic management unit at 85 Collamer Crossing Pkwy.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Photo credit: Saab Defense and Security USA LLC