LokeOops I should expressed myself more clearly.
What I meant was that I was hoping some of the industrial contracts that were destined for Canadian companies on the F-35 program will go to Norway instead. I believe Kongsberg built a new factory some years agot to make parts for the F-35, there are also some small companies that make small bits and pieces for the F-35, perhaps some of them could get slightly bigger contract (not likely to happen but one can always hope…)
LokeIncredible — are the Canadians really going to do this!?
It is very hard to comprehend, in particular considering that Canada is an F-35 partner!
I hope Norway will get some of the F-35 contracts that otherwise would have gone to Canada — competition is stiff, still, one may hope that at least some of it will end up here.
LokeI can’t figure out why Saab believes that it can meet the IN’s requirement for a twin engined carrier fighter. the RFI clearly states requirements that Saab’s Gripen M cannot meet.
I was also wondering about that — are you sure it is clearly stated in the RFI that two engines is a requirement? Media often get the details wrong…
LokeSaab is to continue development of the maritime variant of its Gripen E combat aircraft, with attention now being focused on a sale to India following Brazil’s recent decision to axe its Sao Paulo aircraft carrier.
Speaking on 15 March during the company’s annual Gripen seminar in Stockholm, Jerker Ahlqvist, head of the Gripen business unit, said that Saab will respond to an Indian Navy request for information (RFI) with the Gripen M (Maritime) that is it has been developing with UK and Brazilian engineers.
Read more: http://www.janes.com/article/68734/saab-shifts-gripen-m-focus-from-brazil-to-india
For Gripen M it will be an uphill battle against two mature and well established players, I suspect. (And perhaps with the F-35 lurking in the background?)
LokeConfirming that lead prototype aircraft 39-8 will get airborne before the end of the second quarter, head of Gripen Jerker Ahlqvist says: “So far, everything is going according to plan, and it looks really promising.” Deliveries of the GE Aviation F414-powered jet will start in 2019 for the Swedish air force, followed by aircraft for export customer Brazil.
Low-speed taxi tests with the Gripen E commenced at Saab’s Linköping production site late last year, and Ahlqvist says the company is currently validating its software in preparation for the first flight. Aircraft 39-8 is currently in ground test, while the second of its eventual three prototypes has entered final assembly.
Ahlqvist notes that Saab’s decision to use an app-type software architecture on the Gripen E is already proving successful. “We see that corrections to the software that we need to do go very quickly,” he says. “We can make a change and then introduce a new software load into the aircraft within days – something that previously could take weeks or even months. That gives us confidence that the programme will meet its schedule and milestones.”
Full story: https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/gripen-e-on-target-for-debut-flight-in-second-quarte-435184/
LokeSaab has offered to re-start production of its Gripen C/D combat aircraft in its proposal to replace Bulgaria’s ageing Warsaw Pact-era MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’ fighters, the company confirmed to Jane’s on 14 March.
Production of the Gripen C/D, which was ceased in early 2015 with the completion of Sweden’s order and the company’ transition over to the latest E variant, could be resumed for Bulgaria with deliveries following shortly after.
Full story: http://www.janes.com/article/68701/saab-offers-to-restart-gripen-c-d-production-for-bulgaria
Gripen is competing against second-hand F-16 from Portugal, and second-hand Typhoon from Italy.
Barring “surprising” incidents (Austria…) this seems to be a two-horse race between the F-16 and Gripen. Will they follow Hungary and Czechia , or follow Romania? My guess is they will do as Romania and purchase second-hand F-16; perhaps mainly for political reasons.
LokeA former Indian test pilot talks about his experience flying the Gripen:
https://www.facebook.com/saabgroup.india/videos/1507045805974583/
LokeAt this year’s NATO Tiger Meet exercise in Saragosa in Spain attended the Czech Air Force with four planes and a total of 30 people.
– Other countries participating with other aircraft systems brought up to 25 people per aircraft. To fly Gripen you need only a pilot, a technician and a mechanic per aircraft and you can do it with just the pilot and technician too. It is much cheaper and moreover lucky because it is so difficult to recruit engineers today.
In some situations, even pilots the fuel and of preparing the aircraft.
– We added the training of pilots in 2008, so that they can make clear the plane on their own and take off again if they had to land at other bases during a mission. That way they do not need to wait to get the help of techniques and can clarify its aircraft and quickly be in the air again. It is very useful for incident preparedness missions.
– It’s not because of us that the system is how smoothly and resource efficient. The Gripen system is designed so. What’s so cool is that it really works the way it is designed. It is impressive that it actually works as intended. There you should be proud of in Sweden.
Google translated from; http://www.fmv.se/sv/Nyheter-och-press/Nyheter-fran-FMV/Gripen–ett-prisvart-och-effektivt-val-for-Tjeckien/
Seems they are quite happy with their Gripens!
LokeLinden, who is also vice president of Saab Asia Pacific, said that global orders for its Gripen fighter jets have been good.
He said proposals for the jets have been submitted to the Royal Malaysian Air Force (RMAF), from the series E (single-seater) and F (twin-seater).
The Royal Malaysian Air Force faces an uncertain future for its capability development plans, given the government’s budgetary limitations, constrained by slow economic growth and falling oil revenues.
Given the financial constraints in Malaysia perhaps Gripen is still in the race?
Loke@Loke,
Main issue for FAF is to figure out how to stay alive on the ground, have at least modest numbers and produce large number of sorties as deterrant or early in conflict.Quite possible that ps05/mk4 will outrange the Raven ES 1000 in A2A mode.
Glad to see your faith in F35 I ll send a postcard to you and your soon only and completely unprotected airbase..
I strongly doubt the ps05/mk04 will outrange the Raven AESA radar.
Once the F-35 gets up in the air then yes I do have quite a lot of faith in the F-35 (at least post 2025), the evidence from test pilots from several countries are pretty clear on that one.
I did not understand the comment about completely unprotected airbase?
LokeI’m sure most services would consider the 3 EFT’s the Gripen has to carry to match the F-35’s range a pretty heavy load. That configuration is so heavy in fact, that the Gripen E/F wouldn’t be able to carry much of anything else.
A light fighter like Gripen E will in some cases be used in a quite different manner from a larger fighter; in addition will a 4.5 fighter in some cases be used in a different manner from a 5. gen fighter.
One needs to look at the requirements of the air force, and look at how each system may be able to meet those requirements according to the strengths and limitations of each system.
LokeOne interesting thing about the recently Indian Expo is that two separate journalists that were flying in the Gripen both reported on the Gripen radar and Meteor:
In look-up mode we were able to detect and track airliners flying off the east coast – a range comfortably in excess of 300 km! Hans showed me how to use the throttle grip to slew the cursor on the radar display to select a target and engage it with a mock BVRAAM. He pointed out that the PS-05 Mk3 radar (current standard fit on all Swedish Air Force Gripens) is already able to take advantage of the MBDA Meteor’s formidable range. Sweden’s fighters were upgraded last year to incorporate the latest MS20 operating software standard, making the Gripen the first combat platform to operationalise the Meteor BVRAAM (see Vayu III/2016).
http://www.gripenblogs.com/Lists/Posts/Post.aspx?ID=1622
A quick observation … I was lucky to be flown onboard the LCA Tejas and the Gripen D on consecutive days last week and have a small observation to make. The Synthetic Aperture mode of the PS-05 V3 (possibly V4) on the Gripen was markedly inferior to the resolution provided by the Elta EL/M 2032 set onboard the Tejas while looking down and ground `targets. However, the air to air range on the Gripen’s radar (not disclosing numbers here) was singularly impressive – meant to take advantage of the phenomenal range of the Meteor missile. Cheers.
The Gripen E will of course have a much improved AESA radar, much improved RWR sensors, IRST, improved EWS, and sensor fusion, taking Gripen to a whole new level — this does not change the fact that the F-35 will be far superior, it just demonstrates that there is an enormous leap in capabilities between the Hornets the Finns fly today, and the F-35, and the Gripen E is somewhere inbetween in many respects (of course with the restrictions that it is a light fighter and in particular missions that require long range and/or big payloads one may need to compensate by e.g. using more Gripens).
LokeI am quite sure they will go for the F-35A, with the brake shute (development paid for by Norway).
With the brake shute the A will be able to stop at relatively short and icy runways.
LokeSwedish Ambassador Harald Fries said Saab Group, a major defense and civilian security company, has just opened an office in the country.
“People here they associate Saab with cars but they no longer exist,” he noted. “It is now a global security company and they just opened up an office here in the Philippines.”
The Saab Group has been reported to be in the pole position to secure a deal to sell its JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft to the Philippine Air Force. Aside from air defense, the company could also offer coastal surveillance equipment and even submarines to the Philippines.
http://business.mb.com.ph/2017/03/12/saab-opens-philippine-office/
Loke“Arm seat,” says a voice in my ear. This is the point of no return, as I head to Yelahanka’s 3-kilometre runway in the rear seat of a Saab Gripen D. I depress the catch that secures the ejection seat arming mechanism and push the switch from the ‘safe’ position to ‘armed.’ This simple action, more than anything in the past ninety-odd minutes, drives home the reality of what is about to happen.
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