Spitfire9F414 is now 20 years old and no more SH are being built (roughly)
so GE will seek to sell their engines to whomever are asking, Gripen NG may well be their best cow for that engine
Yes, Gripen E then Tejas MkII (+ possible use in the Korean KFX) should sustain demand for F414 way into the future.
Spitfire9Selex ES has provided further details about the sensor package being developed for Saab’s Gripen E fighter, as key elements of the system are due to soon be flown together.
A final hardware version of the Raven ES-05 active electronically scanned array radar was shipped to Saab’s Linköping site in Sweden from the UK in mid-March, along with its power supply, receiver and processor, for installation in development aircraft 39-7.
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/selex-advances-gripen-e-sensor-testing-397222/
Spitfire9Dassault pitches Rafale to Canada:
Dassault Aviation of France is making an aggressive bid to sideline the F-35 and to sell its own jet fighter to Canada, offering to transfer technology, create jobs and share billions of dollars in business if Canada buys its Rafale fighter to replace its outdated fleet of CF-18s.
It is interesting that Dassault claims offsets would be much better than with F-35.
“Should the Canadian industry wish to assemble or produce part of the Rafale in Canada, we are fully open to it,” Robins told CBC News in Montreal.
Robins said the “intellectual property” associated with the Rafale would be part of any sale, including the source codes for the fighter’s computer system as well as the know-how to adapt and update the aircraft — both hardware and software — throughout its lifespan.
“The Rafale will be Canadianized,” said Robins.
This would mean, he said, “transfer of technology to the Canadian industry, creating high-value jobs and integrating the Canadian industry in the global supply chain.”
Spitfire9Go ahead and believe that. The DoD set the goals, not LockMart.
What is your point? Contractors agree to meet certain goals when accepting a contract. LM (in line with many other military contractors) fail to deliver as promised – on time and on budget – yet still get paid. I think most contractors actually make more money through failure than through success.
Spitfire9Update on Croatian fighters:
Croatia’s defence ministry says the current turmoil in Ukraine “has nothing to do” with a roughly five-month delay in returning its Mikoyan MiG-21bisD fighters and UMD-model trainers that are being overhauled in Odessa, instead citing “technical problems”.
These include issues with integrating new navigation and communication equipment from Czech supplier CLS, along with “digital to analogue signal conversion”.
Being performed under a €13.9 million ($19.3 million) deal forged through Ukraine’s Ukrspecexport organisation, the project includes the overhaul of the seven aircraft and the provision of five additional single-seat examples, which are being refurbished and equipped to Croatian air force specifications.
If I have understood this correctly, this looks like a bargain for Croatia – 7 MiG-21 aircraft overhauled in a big way + 5 additional overhauled aircraft supplied. And all for less than $US20 million!
Spitfire9The vote in Switzerland has little to do with Gripen specifically. It is about a budget.
If they cannot afford Gripen then they cannot afford alternatives.
If they turn the proposition down I guess it will come up again in the next 2 or 3 years (at a different price and possibly too late for offsets to include Gripen parts).
Spitfire9“
NEW DELHI — A shocking 50% of the Indian Air Force’s (IAF’s) Sukhoi-30 MKI fighter fleet is on the ground due to unresolved servicing issues with the aircraft’s Russian manufacturers. This has also eroded the combat capability of India’s frontline long-range strike aircraft and compromised even that part of the fleet which is capable of being flown.
The IAF and Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) have rung the alarm bells about the repeated mid-flight failure of the Su-30 mission computer and the blanking out of all cockpit displays. The Russians have not responded to the repeated SOS’ from the Indians for over a year.
Spitfire9B61-12 Nuclear Bomb Integration On NATO Aircraft To Start In 2015
“Integration of US nuclear weapons onto aircraft of non-nuclear weapon states that have signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and promised “not to receive the transfer from any transferor whatsoever of nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices or of control over such weapons or explosive devices directly, or indirectly,” is, to say the least, problematic.”
Problematic, it says. Nice bit of understatement.
Spitfire9looks like deal done. up to 86.
The picture in the article is a F-22….. idiots.
I was interested to read: “The JSF will replace the fleet of ageing F/A-18 Hornet fighter planes…” I thought the F/A-18 order was placed fairly recently because F-35 was so far behind schedule. Should it say F-18?
Spitfire9PARIS — In recent public statements, US Air Force Lieutenant General Christopher Bogdan, head of the F-35 Joint Program Office, has stretched the credibility he had built up when he was first appointed in December 2012.
At the time, Bogdan’s strongly skeptical statements about prime contractor Lockheed-Martin and about previous program management methods were greeted with relief as observers welcomed an apparently realistic approach to the troubled program.
Bogdan, however, has recently made supportive statements that appear at odds with the public knowledge of the program, and that seem far more optimistic than those of other senior Pentagon officials. Most recently, Bogdan told Australian reporters in Canberra, Australia, that “The cost of an F-35A in 2019 will be somewhere between $80 and $85 million, with an engine, with profit, with inflation,” according to Bloomberg News (see following story).
These figures are difficult to reconcile with the most recent contract prices, which largely exceed $200 million, and US Air Force budget documents, which estimate that F-35A aircraft ordered in FY2019 will have a Flyaway Unit Cost (FUC) of $97.1 million, plus the cost of the F135 which is procured separately and costs about $25 million.
Total FUC cost is thus at least $122 million, or about twice that quoted by Bogdan. They also are much lower than the prices quoted by the JPO on Sept. 27, 2013, and which set LRIP 6 aircraft (F-35A CTOL) unit cost at $103 million, and LRIP 7 aircraft at $98 million, again without engines.
F-35 supporters and F-35 detractors, make of that what you will.
Spitfire9IHS Jane’s expects the FAC to soon be interested in procuring a new multirole fighter with an initial order of 12 aircraft likely to be placed by 2017.
http://www.janes.com/article/34999/colombian-air-force-suspends-kfir-operations
The Colombian Air Force may become the first export customer for Brazilian-assembled Gripens.
Spitfire9Loose translation from article in Air&Cosmos talking of Gripen E:
It was known that it will carry more fuel, more armament, while sporting an entirely renewed arms system. But the Gripen E… will also be stealthier. “We are obliged contractually to reduce the RCS of the aircraft”, explained Björn Johansson, chief engineer of the Gripen E programme at a press conference in Linköping, Sweden.
While the steps taken to achieve this aim were obviously not revealed in detail the engineer stressed that this stealth would be obtained “through a combination of structural modifications and the use of new materials”.
Link (in French): http://www.air-cosmos.com/defense/saab-veut-rendre-le-gripen-plus-furtif.html
Spitfire9“The US assured Taiwan’s MND that the CAPES program was “guaranteed” to go forward and that there was zero risk,” an MND source said.
Spitfire9The F-15 Silent Eagle might have a chance of sales if the price was more competitive. If Boeing has such deep pockets, it should improve pricing.
I think South Korea was the last non-US prospect. There is no country currently interested in ordering a medium/heavy 4G fighter.
Spitfire9A fully developed, ready-for-combat airplane would cost about $20 billion and 15 years to develop under the current paradigm. I doubt Boeing’s pockets are that deep and investors are patient enough to support it.
Personally I cannot see a fighter whose development it would pay Boeing to self-fund.
Boeing can only develop and sell what the USG allows them to develop and sell. No customer is going to want 30 year old technology. They will want the bleeding edge technologies which are prohibited from transfer under US ITAR laws.
I don’t follow this. LM has sold F-35 to a number of countries. F-35 is bleeding edge technology. A design that might conceivably find a market would be a lower cost (than F-35), lightweight LO fighter. Its systems would not need to be as sophisticated as those in F-35.
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