As for national development – well, Selex Galileo signed an MoU last year to co-operate with ATMOS on AESA technology, so maybe Brazil will be able one day to come up with a British-content-free radar good enough to replace the Raven (which will have improved by then) or its successor. But it won’t happen quickly.

In Argentina’s case, the radar doesn’t have to be on par with Raven — it just has to get the job done. Argentine Gripens could make the transition earlier at v1.0a, while Gripens produced for Brazil at the same time are still being fitted with the standard Selex systems. IRST and parts of the EW suite could be omitted entirely for a first batch of Argentine Gripens, if necessary.

It might not fit your view of the world Rii, but it is likely that the European allies will stick together on this and actually have some influence over Brasil and Argentina!

Shock, horror….

If SAAB wishes to jeapordise its position in the market of the world’s future fourth-largest economy, and by extension the broader South American market, and thereby jeapordise both its own Flygsystem 2030 project and indeed its very survival as an independent entity capable of producing high-end combat aircraft, in favour of cosying up to London, that is its own affair.

The Argentine (and to a lesser extent, Brazilian) inclination towards western hardware is certainly useful for SAAB in limiting the competition it has to deal with, but this can’t be taken for granted. If SAAB stands in the way of Brazilian national development objectives, then it will eventually be discarded in favour of those who won’t. The French, Russians, Chinese, and even Americans will be glad to step in, to say nothing of Israel, Turkey, Korea, and India.

When confronted with what appears to be a square peg and a round hole, the proper course of action is not to throw them both out of the pram, but rather to work out how they go together. And as it turns out, there is in fact a way to make sense of all this: namely, that Brazil is interested in developing indigenous counterparts of the existing radar, IRST, EW systems, etc. anyway — the better to both advance national industrial development objectives, and with the intention of fitting such systems to future batches of Brazilian aircraft. Argentina and Brazil will jointly fund the development of such systems because both nations will ultimately benefit from them.

Great news.

Does this imply any adjustment in terms of other purchases?

Probably just an extra couple of squadrons to account for delays in various programs (MMRCA, LCA, FGFA, Super-30) + crashes since the last order, which although signed 2012 was first mooted in 2010.

Thanks for the input guys.

India successfully test fires Nirbhay cruise missile

Congratulations. Is the turbojet indigenous or Russian? From Janes:

It is possible that the turbojet engine has been provided by a Russian company: in October 2006 it was announced that Russia had agreed to supply 200 NPO Saturn TRDD-50MT small turbojet engines to India, ostensibly for the Lakshya target drone programme.

It all went downhill when Gripen started whispering that Rafale was fat and Rafale overheard and hit back, claiming that Gripen was a skinny bitch with no curves. The two haven’t been on speaking terms since.

You gotta feel for the fighter jock who gets a kill on a $50bn aircraft and still only gets one silhouette for his trouble.