Is it not the case that the UK Empire test Pilot School is now operating a couple of Gripens ? They must have some faith in it

Since 1999 they have been flying them.

The most recent campaigns have included students from the Royal Air Force, the Royal Australian Air Force, the United States Navy and the French Air Force.

http://www.gripen.com/en/MediaRelations/News/2006/etps_agrees_new_deal.htm

The Gripen is a good aircraft that offers alot of bag for the buck! Yet, it is no F-35………… :p

Yeah thank God.

Nah, it looks maybe a bit more than usual ones but when they get flipped to that position they look funky like that depending on sun/shades. Here’s a totally different jet giving us a wink 😉

You can see…

I see why Gripen has positioned itself well in Norway and Rafale is out and Eurofighter is dropping in popularity. At least at this point in time.

After LM offered Norway a revised industrial bid this spring the Norwegian State secretary said it would be “quite certain” they will receive 12 Billion NKr of industrial contracts and an opportunity for a total of 20 Billion but would have to compete for these final 8.

Before this offer almost all contracts should have been under competition. Eurofighter at that point had the better deal as they gave solid industrial contracts without competition.

Two weeks after LM offered their new bid, Gripen gave their first offer:

30 Billion NKr of non-competitive contracts, more than doubling the LM offer of 12 billion and a minimum 100% offset against the procurement costs. Plus shared ownership of the new jet, full technology transfer etc. So if they export the Gripen N to other countries they get a cut from that too. Add to it shared training, logistics with SwAF and the closer military ties as a whole.

It’s not known what Dassault has offered, but would seem they could not match either LM or Gripen and apparently not Eurofighter too.

Sources: http://www.flightglobal.com/Articles/2006/05/16/Navigation/181/206608/Norway+to+stay+in+JSF+%E2%80%93+for+now.html
http://n24.no/makro-og-politikk/article1318838.ece

Yes, by attaching load-carrying “wings” you’re able to equip the A109 LUH with quite a lot of weaponry, including 70mm rocket launchers, 12.7mm and 20mm cannon pods, Hellfires, TOWs, HOTs, Mistrals or Stingers. Presumably, this would require a fair bit of extra modifications in order to install targetting and sighting systems, but the important bit is that it can be done if necessary.

Still, I don’t think either the Swedish Air Force or SA Air Force will be arming their A109 LUHs anytime soon.

2 of the A109 will be modified for Special Ops so while that’s undefined I guess at least a door gunner and the military have listed KPS58 (FN MAG) as available armament for all Hkp15. 8 of the 20 will be used for Ship operations and named HKP15B. The military mentioned they make them ready for anti-armor missiles but have no plans to buy any.

K25 (Arrived in May) in the new hangar:

Are there foriegn clients that bought the Rafal?
I think Singapore did but I’m not sure. Is it the price tag what
turns potential cosumers away?

No, in Singapore it lost out to F-15 but it did make it to the final round of trials which Eurofighter didn’t. Man it’s not easy selling jets, you don’t just buy a jet like a car 🙂 You buy policy and business deals on a wide scale… And Rafale never managed to come down in price like Mirage. Also it really haven’t lost out to countries that usually fly French, afaik it’s losing out in new territory.

I think some problems can also be down to simple issues like person to person contacts, eventhough the French can (reluctantly) speak English I have never had the impression that they can do the ‘Business English’ of a confident marketing division.

For instance the Norwegians speak/read English and Swedish perfectly, but if you hand them a manual to Rafale they will look like big question marks since it’s written in French. Thus the buyer have to put more trust into the seller and translations. Just one of the human sides of it all…

so the options are 2 flying planes (Euro and F-35 Lightning 2) in which you payed some of the development costs and one paper plane (Gripen N is still a proposal)?

hmmmm.. I’d say the obvious answer is F-35. Probably all this rumours are actually a presure for LM to became more transparent with the tech stuff.

F-35 LII is not flying yet. If you claim that X-35 flew then well Gripen has been flying 75000 hours and the modifications to a Gripen N is nothing huge.

The AA-1 F-35 to hopefully fly later this year is still not the production version. Eurofighter is not multirole yet while the Gripen concept is.

Gripen has also presented a plan to deliver jets to the NwAF 2 years before JSF. Ps. Not rumours this time.

I don’t think you understand just how serious the Norwegian gov is about securing long term growth in Norwegian industry. Already in 2004 there was calls in parliament to buy the current Gripen.

Assuming that Norway will cut the JSF financing …

That’s coffee money to these northern oil barons.. :p