Portuguese industrial group founded in 1986 and headquartered in Marinha Grande, operating 11 specialized factories across 65,000 m² with 500+ employees in PT, the UK, Spain and Singapore. Named by Saab as a national industrial partner already integrated in the JAS 39 Gripen E aircraft supply chain.
Vangest is a Portuguese industrial group founded in 1986 in Marinha Grande, operating 11 specialized factories across 65,000 square meters of industrial space with 500+ employees in Portugal, the United Kingdom, Spain and Singapore. The group specializes in molds, plastics and precision components for the aerospace and defense industries, and was publicly named by Saab’s Daniel Boestad in April 2026 as one of the Portuguese national industrial partners already integrated in the JAS 39 Gripen E aircraft supply chain.
Vangest is one of the most strategically positioned Portuguese suppliers inside the Nordic defense-industrial complex: a multi-site, multi-country group that already meets Saab’s qualification bar for a flagship platform programme. Its visibility on the Gripen supply chain makes it a credibility anchor for the wider Portuguese aerospace-and-defense cluster targeting Nordic primes — and a natural reference point for Portuguese exporters in advanced manufacturing eyeing Sweden, Norway, Denmark or Finland.
On 23 April 2026, Daniel Boestad, Vice-President of Saab’s Gripen business unit, publicly named Vangest alongside Critical Software, Kristaltek and Thyssenkrupp Portugal as Portuguese suppliers already integrated in the JAS 39 Gripen E supply chain. The disclosure came as Saab pitched a localised Gripen E industrial-cooperation package to Portugal’s Air Force as a replacement for the ageing F-16 fleet. Saab indicated that Vangest’s precision-machining capacity could absorb additional Gripen workload if Portugal selects the platform.
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