Saab 340 Saab 340 MSA

With production more than a decade closed, Saab found in the maritime surveillance market an outlet for second-hand airframes: aircraft with structural life to spare, cheap to operate and with endurance enough to patrol an exclusive economic zone. The demonstrator shown in late May 2012 was a 340B Plus fitted with a Telephonics synthetic aperture radar and an infrared sensor under the fuselage, at an announced cost of around twenty million dollars per aircraft.

The promised configuration went well beyond surveillance: detection, classification and identification of maritime contacts, anti-surface and anti-submarine warfare, signals intelligence and long-range search and rescue, with the option of an auxiliary tank to stretch time on station. In June 2014 the head of Saab Singapore presented the 340 MSA and noted interest from several South-East Asian countries, a market where maritime surveillance was growing fast.

The material consulted documents the offer and the demonstrator but no series delivery. In practice the 340B ISR, a single aircraft with AESA radar and optical turrets, was the platform's testbed.