Thanks Tmor for that pic.
For the record, I don’t see all this as a competition and have alot of respect for Rafale program and French engineers. One example is the work we do together on Neuron which I see as a good way to use the most of European R&D capability that looks beyond national protectionism. Also French members on forums often provide sources to their news too so I don’t mind that some of them at times get enthusiastic about their jet and perhaps have not always updated info about Gripen + I have no problems accepting Gripen is not always best at everything. It’s just a weapon… Most guys here that I am interested in listening to have English as a second language so often it’s easier to just provide a source which in the end adds substance and quality to submitted posts. I’m not gonna start a Gripen thread.. and only post the following because I was asked about it. 😎
Sig i TOTALY agree with you, i know how respected Sweedish EMC capabilties are, perhaps top in Western Europe or close but tell me, does the Gripen DEMO posseses this 5ht technology core architecture and similar AESA systems for its ECMs?.
Well I’m no architech-nerd and don’t know what 5th Gen core Arch is supposed to be… but Saab is competing with F-35 and have accelerated development in that area but a operational time frame depends on export success. The 39C of today is not exactly “old tech” but in short the Gripen DEMO or Test Aircraft 39-7 as it’s actually named flight tests the new engine and airframe but will during winter be outfitted with new system architecure and new sensors such as a AESA. Customer demonstrations will then happen during the summer 2009. I think this is when we can start to get some feedback.
The other Test jets most significantly 39-6 is for a while now flying some of the new architecure as is the avionics rigs outfitted with new h/w and s/w as it’s developed. More info pasted below. M-AESA will definitely be used for ECM and supression as well as communication together with a broadband uhf video link and satcom though this is nothing new in regards to the Gripen development program which often mistakenly is viewed as “Gripen Demo” vs “old program”… no, Gripen Demo is continued evolvement of the gripen program and while Saab has outlined very long planning the work is addressed towards urgent requirement (months), near requirement (3 year plans) and 9 year plans (3x3yr) So it’s not clear when say a operational AESA will be on Gripen but doesn’t have to be decided until ~2 years before it needs to be fielded.
Operationally speaking, the Gripens will from 2009 adopt the system version 19 which adds new ground tracking and mapping modes in the radar, independant system with command and control functions to the back-seat, the Helmet Mounted Display w/Night Vision and EO tracker, the IRIS-T and Link-16. It’s essentially the system that took part in the Swiss trials. (Those jets were taken from the IO&T unit) What version 20 to be fielded 2012 will contain is under negotiation depending om how the evolving development succeeds. That quickly sums up where they are at…
SWEDISH AESA RADAR UNDERTAKES FIRST FLIGHT TRIALS
Saab (formerly Ericsson) Microwave Systems reports that it undertook the first flight trials of a new demonstrator radar for Gripen in September 2007. The tests, performed from a Lockheed Martin C-130 Hercules transport aircraft with the radar mounted backwards on the loading ramp, generated data that the company describes as “world-unique”.
The active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar is a new development, building on technology from the current PS-05/A radar of the Gripen. Known within the company as NORA III (derived from the phrase ‘Not Only a RAdar’), the new radar uses a Saab-specified AESA antenna consisting of approximately 1,000 elements built by Raytheon.
“As far as we know, this is the first data collection from a fighter radar using multi-channel AESA technology [that] simultaneously has one receiver channel per sub-aperture,” says Jonas Branzell, programme manager for airborne radar at Saab Microwave Systems. “The data received is irreplaceable with regard to development of the radars of the future and their signal-processing algorithms.”
During earlier ground tests, several Gripens were used as radar targets. In addition, both airborne- and land-based jamming were tested. According to Saab, the trials gave good results in the following modes: long-range target detection and tracking; search and track in highly manoeuvrable multi-target scenarios; rapid track initiation/alert; passive detection; and multiple jammer suppression.
Saab says these flight trials have demonstrated that an AESA radar, using one channel per sub-aperture, gives better sidelobe suppression than a monopulse system. According to the company, its radar detects targets in more directions and at lower speeds than any earlier known AESA radar.
Saab also maintains that ground clutter problems have been reduced in this new system: an ordinary AESA only uses distance and speed to separate targets from clutter, but tests with a multi-channel AESA, using spatially separated sub-apertures in two dimensions (elevation and azimuth), are claimed to give better ground clutter suppression.
The radar flight trials were originally intended to use a Viggen fighter as the platform but, following the latter’s withdrawal from service, the C-130 Hercules was selected. According to Saab’s Branzell, this had only a minor impact on the test results. “The radar being directed backwards had no impact on the clutter tests. It is only a mirror compared to the normal case,” he says.
Branzell adds that the test made use of different waveforms, pulse frequencies and tapers, in part to compensate for the lower speed range of the C-130. Source
An entirely new avionics architecture will empower Gripen NG
Away from the Gripen Demo aircraft there
is a second strand in future Gripen technology
work now underway. An avionics
design and development team will deliver
an entirely new avionics architecture
for Gripen NG. With a combination of
advanced hardware and a wide-ranging
re-appraisal of how an avionics system
functions, the improvements to Gripen NG
will be revolutionary.
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