New Delhi, October 3:

Swedish aerospace and defence giant Saab Group is betting big on the Indian market for its fighter jet Gripen.

The $800-million Saab aeronautics, which has already bagged $5 billion worth of global orders for Gripen, is planning to set up an entire production and assembly line in India to co-produce the jets under the Make in India programme.

“Saab is here to team up with India and be there for the next 100 years. This is not just about setting up an aircraft industry but also about true transfer of technology and sharing of trade secrets,” said Mats Palmberg, Vice President, Industrial Partnerships, Saab Aeronautics.

Full story: http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/economy/swedish-major-saab-bets-big-on-india-with-gripen-fighter-jets/article9180925.ece

Their F-15SG are new, and probably the most capable F-15E variant for air to air combat: APG-63(v)3 instead of the APG-70 or -82, the “Tiger eyes” derivative of the AN/AAS-42 IRST, and the ALQ-135M EW system.

They really don’t have the need for a new fighter until those F-16’s (which they recently signed a contract to upgrade), are nearing the end of their airframe life.

Well, some people seem to argue that in a few years flying F-16 and F-15 will be extremely risky, and only the F-35 will do….

With weight gain since the Gripen Demo, the production E/F is apparently incapable of supercruise with the standard F414. Future supercruise prospects depend on someone funding GE’s development roadmap for the engine, which nobody appears eager to do.

Source?

I believe it still says “super-cruise” in one of the latest brochures from Saab — having said that, IMHO this is mainly a marketing stunt and probably of very limited tactical value since the SC is limited to a very light a2a load, and probably limited to 1.2M or so. In some very few instances it may come in handy but it is not exactly the main selling point…

You choose for it to make more sense because it suits you.

They have more money than France if you check finances.

LOL it’s even more amazing then that wheras the Rafale is a mature, well polished multirole a/c with a production AESA the Typhoon is struggling with numerous issues of whic lack of AESA is but one. It is actually you who choose to believe in the mythical GaN because it seems to suit you.

With all that “active stealth”, it’s funny that you never hear of them ruling the skies at Red Flag :stupid:

It is highly unlikely that the French will fully utilize their capabilities in a rehearsal like Red Flag to say the least. If you recall the infamous presentation from a few years back, what the pilot said about the French participation in Red Flag was that they were just lying there “sucking up ‘trons” (don’t remember the exact wording but something like that).

So if they do that, do you really expect them to allow other to “suck up” all the secret Rafale “trons”? No Way.

This does not mean of course that the “active stealth” is as effective as some claim, it merely means that you cannot use Red Flag to even start guessing at their capabilities.

Other sources are probably better to gauge the Rafale’s capabilities in this field. In the Swiss leaks the Rafale EW score was above 8 (on a scale maxing out at 9); the Typhoon came in at below 7. Switching to GaN AESA and upgrading the software will probably make the Rafale maintain a quite nice edge in this field for many years to come.

Didn’t the Gripen E get heavier than expected or sth?

At one point Saab presented a “Gripen NG” that had an empty weight of 7200 kg. However the Gripen E that Brazil and Sweden is going for has an empty weight of 8,000 kg. However the design has grown in size since the 7,200kg figure was first mentioned, so I am not sure if it right to say that it is “heavier than expected”.

Here is the latest fact sheet: http://saab.com/globalassets/commercial/air/gripen-fighter-system/pdf-files-download-section/facts/gripen-e-fact-sheet–en.pdf

At 8 tons it is still in the “light fighter” category, quite comparable to the Mirage 2000 (6% longer, 6% shorter wingspan, 7% higher empty weight than the Mirage 2000). What is somewhat disappointing is that max MTOW has not grown more, MTOW is 16,500 kg, 3% less than the Mirage 2000 with an MTOW at 17,000. OTOH considering the size of the fighter it is probably enough.

It is an infrared system , infrared system doesnot care targets is on ground or on the air.
And thermal system doesn’t use laser spot tracker for air to air but rather laser range finder

Actually it seems to “care”; it seems only the latest generation of Litening supports air-to-air mode:

21 January, 2015
| BY: Arie Egozi
| Tel Aviv

The next generation of Rafael’s Litening targeting pod will be able to operate in an air-to-air mode, helping to identify targets that have been previously detected by a fighter’s radar.

Yuval Miller, executive vice-president and head of the Israeli company’s Air and C4I Systems division, says the Litening 4 design has been upgraded with better daylight and infrared visual capabilities. “The CCD is a colour sensor that also helps in identifying targets on the ground – especially in dense areas,” he says.

According to Miller, the new version will be not only a targeting pod, but will also serve as an intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance system, and will feature a datalink function to share and receive information with other assets.

What is very confusing though is this:

Dubbed “G-5” by the US company and G-4 Advanced by Rafael, the next iteration of the system was given an initial demonstration for the navy late last year and additional demonstrations are scheduled for this year.

https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/rafael39s-litening-pod-to-gain-air-to-air-capability-408161/

To add further to the confusion, this came six months later:

Coupling Rafael’s latest reconnaissance and targeting pods with scene-matching electro-optical-guided weapons enables air forces to tighten targeting cycles from days and hours to a few seconds.

Rafael (Static A8) is unveiling the Litening 5 at the Paris Air Show. The fifth generation of the targeting pod that defined this product category two decades ago is now capable of targeting from long range, enabling strike aircraft to employ guided weapons from standoff range without relying on external support.

Litening 5 employs a new sensor pack, utilizing an optical assembly and larger aperture tailored specifically for the new sensors, enabling the increased identification and recognition distance. The pod uses two FLIRS – a Mid-Wave Infra-Red (IR) and Short Wave IR (SWIR). The later extends observation range using active laser illumination. Complementing the sensor pack is a color CCD HD-TV, improving target recognition and separation of man-made objects that are often harder to spot in the thermal, monochromatic image. Color improves the ability to share a common understanding with ground forces and recognize specific vehicles based on their color. Images can be fused or displayed separately, based on the level of avionics used in the aircraft.

http://aviationweek.com/paris-air-show-2015/rafael-unveiling-litening-5-reccelite-xr

Here it is Rafael talking, but according to the flightglobal story they should refer to the “G-5” as “G-4 advanced” — so is the Flightglobal article wrong? Or is the aviationweek article wrong? Or did they actually launch a further update to the Litening six months after the first? (sound not very likely).

In any case it seems most Litening pods out there does not have this a2a capability since it’s rather new; furthermore it seems that this latest iteration of Litening (whatever it’s called) is hugely capable; and further it seems quite obvious that this latest iteration most likely will be integrated onto the Indian Rafale (unless they go for Litening 6 which will probably be launched before the Indian Rafale are delivered :))

And even Trump said there isn’t evidence but hearsay.

Are you using something Trump has said to back up your statements…!!!???

I am left speechless.

I am out of here.