Saab Unveils CB90 CX Combat Boat Ahead of Euronaval 2026

Swedish defense company Saab unveiled a new, larger, optionally crewed variant of its CB90 Combat Boat family, named CB90 CX, ahead of the Euronaval 2026 trade show. The company presented details of the new boat in an online press briefing on October 30. The announcement was carried publicly through Naval News’s pre-Euronaval 2026 coverage.

Anders Hellman, head of Saab’s Docksta business unit, described CB90 CX as a response to a changing maritime security environment. Citing infrastructure incidents in the Baltic Sea, the growing use of small distributed systems in the Black Sea, and attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea, Hellman said navies need to see more, move faster, and spread their capability across more platforms.

The new boat measures 18 meters in length and 4 meters in beam, 1.4 meters longer and 0.3 meters wider than the existing CB90 NG, with a 1.1-meter draft. Two 1,100-horsepower engines and waterjet propulsion give it a top speed above 40 knots at full load and a range of more than 300 nautical miles at roughly 40 knots. Payload capacity has been pushed past 5 tons, more than 50 percent above the CB90 NG’s roughly 3-ton capacity under the same conditions, with a crew capacity of up to 10.

CB90 CX carries DNV’s HSLC R2 class notation, allowing it to operate up to 100 nautical miles from a safe haven in summer and 50 nautical miles in winter. Its profile was kept low both to reduce radar signature and to make the boat easier to transport by road and air. Saab said it has built an open-architecture software suite called Combat Core, combining ship automation, platform monitoring, fire control and a new steer-by-wire system on a single digital backbone, letting customers integrate their own sensors and weapons. Its Autonomous Ocean Core software means every CB90 CX is built unmanned-operation-ready from the start.

Saab is offering CB90 CX in three configurations. The ISR configuration uses Saab’s Sea Giraffe 1X X-band 3D radar, delivering 360-degree coverage at 60 rpm and air-detection range beyond 100 kilometers, mounted on a new mast that extends to 11 meters to see over islands and retracts to 4 meters while underway. The anti-surface configuration carries MBDA’s Marte ER sea-skimming fire-and-forget missile, reaching beyond 100 kilometers with external targeting data. The short-range air-defense configuration pairs Rheinmetall’s Seasnake 30 naval gun with KCE-30 ammunition, with helicopters, drones and loitering munitions set as primary targets.

Sweden’s defense procurement agency FMV ordered an initial eight Seasnake 30 systems in February 2026, indicating that part of the weaponry planned for CB90 CX is already entering Swedish service through a separate track. Sweden is the launch customer for CB90 CX, with the first boat said to be in the final stage of acceptance testing ahead of delivery.

Saab says Sweden has ordered 36 CB90s to date: 10 in June 2024, 22 in 2025, and 4 more in the first half of 2026. CB90 NG production will continue alongside CB90 CX, and Saab plans to double production capacity by building a new facility at Docksta. Its target markets center on NATO and allied countries, particularly the Baltic and Mediterranean regions. More than 300 CB90s are in service with nine navies worldwide.

Saab also said it is working on drone-launch capability, through both tube-based systems and quadcopters, as well as torpedo integration for CB90 CX. That points to a boat designed not just for current threats but for an operating environment where naval drones and small unmanned systems are expected to proliferate. The open architecture of Combat Core, allowing customization with different countries’ own sensor and weapon suppliers, stands out as a feature likely to boost the platform’s export potential.

The optionally crewed feature of CB90 CX fits a broader shift toward autonomous operation on small and medium naval platforms. As seen in initiatives like France’s DANAE program, European navies are increasingly drawn to dual-mode boat designs capable of operating both manned and unmanned. Saab applying this approach to a proven platform like the CB90 series, with more than 300 units in service across nine navies, could be an advantage that accelerates the new variant’s market acceptance.

Sources

• Naval News, “Saab Unveils Optionally Crewed CB90 CX Ahead of Euronaval 2026,” 30.10.2026 — Based on a briefing by Anders Hellman, head of Saab’s Docksta unit; technical specifications, configurations and Swedish order details are drawn from this source.