BlackArcherlow res shots of LCH TD3.
BlackArcherLong question, short reply; it was cheaper.
When Sweden looked for a new generation fighter in the early 80´s they did something they had´nt done for centuries. They invited foreign customers to compete with SAAB!! It was the F-16 and F-18 Hornet and the Gripen. The Gripen won the deal, but it had to be done by cost saving measures, like COTS in the case of ejection seats and other mediocre things. When it comes to the radar… I am putting a bet that SAAB/Ericsson has already solved that long before the Argentinans put their ink to the paper.
The reason that Saab was chosen was to preserve national military aerospace industry, not because the Gripen design offered a better solution. When this decision was made, the Gripen was just a paper design anyway.
As for your statement about “ejection seats and other mediocre things”, its plain hogwash. The wings, the engine, the FBW, all took foreign expertise or were entirely foreign designed, primarily to keep the program on track, schedule wise. None of these were “mediocre things”..they were the most crucial aspects of the design.
Between 1980 and 1982, separate FMV teams analysed three other options to the Swedish proposal. One was a direct, offthe-shelf buy of a foreign aircraft, with the Mirage 2000, the delta-wing F-16XL, and the F-18 all in contention. Licence building a foreign aircraft was also considered, as was development of a new aircraft with a foreign partner.Trump card
In late 1981 the SAF played the trump card towards the Swedish fighter being chosen. In a study, led by the then Commander-in-Chief, Lt Gen Dick Stenburg, the SAF concluded that a national solution to JAS was vital as it would preserve a strong military aerospace industry to support the Draken and Viggen up to and beyond the year 2000. This could be achieved in as little as 2-5 per cent more in lifetime costs compared with an aircraft bought off-the-shelf, the study concluded.
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The benefit of a Swedish aircraft is that it can be tailored directly to specific needs. But with the emphasis, from the outset, on cost savings and speed, the attitude to design and development has been a pragmatic one. While the aircraft has a distinct and deliberate Swedish “profile”,
it draws on existing foreign technologies, thus cutting down development time and saving money. “The basic principle when we got the contract,” explains Bengt Schmitdh, one of Saab’s JAS 39 assistant project managers, “was to bring down the cost by using existing equipment.” The principle
has been applied generously, with important components developed using foreign technological expertise.The Gripen’s wing and powerplant are obvious examples of this policy. The wing is a joint Saab/British Aerospace development. BAe is building wings for the first two prototypes, and is responsible for design of the wing torsion box and installing fuel tanks, electrics, and hydraulics. Saab designs the control surfaces, pylons, and the wing/fuselage joints and fairings. After completion of the prototype articles, production of the wing will pass to Saab’s Linkoping plant entirely. With the aircraft weighing in at about eight tonnes, it was inevitably powered by a single engine. A number of options were considered before a specially developed version of the General Electric F404 was finally selected. In its Swedish configuration, the engine is co-produced by GE and Volvo Flygmotor and is designated the RM12. Airflow and temperature have been increased to boost the thrust to 18,0001b at low-level reheat, compared with 16,0001b in the standard F404. The front end of the RM12 has been strengthened to protect against
birdstrikes, a particular SAF problem.
JAS Industry Group has taken a pragmatic approach to the supply of components for prototype and production Gripens, to reduce development time and programme costs. British Aerospace, for instance, manufactured the initial sets of composite wings for the prototypes. Saab later assumed responsibility for producing the wings, fin, foreplanes and items such as landing gear doors.
Sweden also took the decision to import ejection seats for the Gripen. In the past Saab had manufactured and installed its own ejection seats. It was decided that collaboration with Martin-Baker to produce a lightweight version of the company’s MklO seat, the S10LS, would save money and valuable development resources. The same programme rationalisation has been applied to the supply of nose and main landing-gear assemblies. AP Precision Hydraulics was selected to manufacture these components, including the drag stays, door and retract actuators, up locks, door locks
and landing-gear system components.
So, while it is possible theoretically for Saab to replace all the British components, its quite clear that the cost of development, integration and testing will be substantial. And all of that will have to be borne by the Argentinians, driving up the already substantial cost of the Gripen E to unaffordable levels. Would just make more sense to approach the Russians instead and look to buy Su-35 or MiG-35s instead.
BlackArcherBlackArcherIndonesia orders 11 AS-565 ASW helicopters
Indonesia is to acquire 11 Airbus Helicopters AS565 Panther rotorcraft equipped for the anti-submarine warfare (ASW) mission.
The helicopters will be delivered in a green condition to PT Dirgintara Indonesia, which will then install the mission systems before the aircraft are delivered to the nation’s navy, says the airframer. Deliveries are scheduled for the next three years.
In May 2014, PTDI vice-president of marketing and sales Arie Wibowo confirmed to Flightglobal that Indonesia was discussing the potential acquisition of up to 16 AS565s.
In Indonesian service the mission package will include a dipping active sonar array as well as torpedoes. The aircraft will be able to operate from both warships and land bases.
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BlackArcherThe number of R-27 in the inventory is fairly small compared to R-77. There was talk of purchasing new R-27 from Ukraine a couple of years back but no further info on it.
the IAF did purchase R-27s worth $250 million from Ukraine just a couple of years ago..which would translate to hundreds of R-27s..and the first batch was delivered last year. What isn’t clear is whether it was the semi-active, active or the IR seeker variant of the R-27 that was purchased. The IR variant has a very useful range and an upgraded seeker and a very useful capability as a passive weapon which can be used at extended ranges.
Ukrainian state-run joint stock holding company, Artem, has handed over the first batch of R-27 medium-range air-to-air missiles to the Indian Air Force (IAF), Ukroboronprom director general Serhiy Hromov has revealed.
Hromov was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine as saying that the company is currently preparing the next batch for delivery to the air force.
Without disclosing the number of missiles delivered, Hromov said that the shipment will enable the full utilisation of the enterprise’s capacity until the end of 2013.
Meanwhile, the director general also exerted confidence that the Ukrainian high-precision aircraft weapons will continue to remain in demand in the regional markets for conventional weapons.
”We’re not limiting ourselves to the Indian contract. Our representatives are actively working with traditional customers from south-east Asia, North Africa and other regions,” Hromov said.
“The shipment will enable the full utilisation of the enterprise’s capacity until the end of 2013.A significant number of R-27 missiles were ordered by the Indian Ministry of Defence (MoD) from Artem under a $250m contract in March 2012, according to the news agency.
As part of the contract terms, the deliveries are scheduled to run from 2012 to 2013.
Artem delivers first batch of R-27 missiles to IAF
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The Indo-Ukrainian Defence ties are expected to get a tremendous boost as Ukraine inches closer towards selling its R-27 air-to-air missiles to India. The deal for R-27 missiles is in the final phase and is expected to be approved shortly by Ukraine. The IAF’s fighter planes such as MiG-29 and Su-30 MKI will be capable of launching the R-27 missile.The R-27 is a medium to long range air-to-air missile which can be used to intercept and combat all types of fighter aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles. The latest model features a range of over 100 kilometers and upgraded seekers. The new infra-red seeker for the R-27 extends its detection range from 18 to 30 kilometers. The R-27 missile, produced by Ukrainian firm Artem, comes in infrared-homing (R-27T), semi-active-radar-homing (R-27R), and active-radar-homing (R-27AE) versions and is similar to the US AIM-7 Sparrow missile.
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BlackArcherThat’s it..the S-70B will be the MRH for the IN with NH-90 having been ejected out of the competition. Thank goodness for that, looking at all the issues facing the NH-90 in all the customer nations’ navies.
Finmeccanica out, Sikorsky joins IN copter acquisition race
DELHI: The infamous VVIP helicopter scandal has claimed another victim. The defence ministry has ejected the European NH-90 chopper, linked to Italian conglomerate Finmeccanica, out of the race to supply 16 multirole helicopters to the Navy.
The commercial bid of the other contender in fray, American Sikorsky-70B choppers, will now be opened this month after a long delay. “Both NH-90 and Sikorsky-70B choppers had cleared the technical trials held a couple of years ago,” said a MoD source.“But their commercial bids were not opened due to various controversies. Now, the Sikorsky bid will undergo evaluation and final price negotiations will follow. The defence procurement policy permits single-vendor situation if the bids were earlier submitted in a competitive manner,” he added.
The long-pending acquisition of the 16 helicopters is critical for the Navy since it is fast running out of choppers that can detect, track and kill enemy submarines at a time when the Chinese navy has stepped up its forays in the Indian Ocean region.
The Navy is also keen to kick-start a much bigger project for manufacturing 124 multi-role helicopters, armed with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and early-warning capabilities as well as customized for amphibious commando operations, in an indigenous project worth around $3 billion.The procurement process for the 16 new helicopters, which was initiated several years ago, had been kept on hold since the CBI began investigating the now-scrapped 556 million euro contract for the 12 VVIP AW-101 helicopters of AgustaWestland, the UK-based subsidiary of Finmeccanica.
With the Modi government implementing “a partial ban” on Finmeccanica, under which ongoing contracts will continue but there will be no fresh deals, the European NH-90 chopper has now been eliminated from the naval chopper procurement case.
BlackArcherIndian sonars to be supplied to friendly nations
India is looking to export indigenously developed hull-mounted sonars and negotiations are at an advanced stage with the navies of three to four friendly nations.
SONAR (an acronym for Sound Navigation and Ranging) is used to detect underwater targets. Like radar, used to detect long-range aerial and other targets, sonars have applications in underwater surveillance, communication and marine navigation.
Three units of these sonars have been exported to Myanmar. Officials from Bharat Electronics Limited and the Naval Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory visited the neighbouring country and installed them a fortnight ago. BEL produced the sonars while the Kochi-based NPOL, a naval lab of the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), designed and developed them. BEL had signed the Rs.150-crore contract for the three sonars with Myanmar in January 2013. Director-General of DRDO (Naval Systems and Materials) Bhujanga Rao told The Hindu that there was a demand from other nations too. Naval officials from three to four countries came to India and held discussions. Mentioning different sonars developed for the Navy, he said that a versatile, new-generation system USHUS has been installed on India’s first indigenous nuclear-powered submarine, Arihant. It has a higher range and can withstand high static pressure of water. Observing that it was superior to Russian equivalents and comparable to the best in the world, he said that sonars on all Russian-class submarines being operated by the Indian Navy would be replaced with USHUS.
Another advanced hull-mounted sonar HUMSA-NG (new generation) was also developed and the Navy had placed orders for its installation on different platforms such as destroyers, frigates and corvettes, Dr. Rao said. A sonar for detecting intruders like divers had been developed for installation at harbour entry points and to protect offshore installations. It will be ready for deployment in a year.
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