Defense Technology International - May 2008 - (Page 40)

AIRCRAFT TACTICAL SHARPER CLAWS Sweden’s subcompact ﬁghter bulks up for export BILL SWEETMAN•LINKOPING, SWEDEN aab rolled out the Gripen Demo prototype at its Linkoping headquarters on Apr. 23, marking a milestone in the Gripen team’s efforts to sustain and expand the fighter’s footprint in the global market. Outside Russia, it’s the most extensive redesign of any fighter in decades to be aimed mainly at exports, and it has been accomplished very quickly and, so far, for remarkably little money. S cus on affordability. It’s one of a handful of ﬁghters in history to be much smaller than the aircraft it replaced. Its 14-ton loaded weight makes it even more of a standout now, since apart from the veteran F-16 and the Sino-Pakistan FC-1, there are no ﬁghters still in service that weigh in at less than 25 tons. The Gripen may, in fact, evolve into the world’s oldest ﬁghter jet in continuous service. Saab officials have said that, These issues have been resolved in the current JAS 39C/D version, but many customers—led by Norway and Denmark, where Gripen is the only competitor in the path of the JSF juggernaut (DTI January/February, p. 16)— have been looking for greater range and payload, and most are making an active electronically-scanned array (AESA) radar a non-negotiable requirement. In September 2007, the Swedish government decided to cut the air force’s Gripen ﬂeet back to 100 aircraft, but to make them all C/D versions—31 modiﬁed from A/B aircraft and the rest new. In October, the Gripen team was awarded a contract covering those upgrades, the Gripen Demo model undergoes low-speed wind-tunnel test of a heavyweight conﬁguration with its new belly weapon stations. Gripen International’s surveys show there are about 5,000 older, smaller ﬁghters in the world, and the company is predicting they will be replaced by about one half that number of new aircraft. Its vision for the next decade is to produce at least 200 Gripens for the international market. The Gripen Demo represents the second step in getting the Gripen family on the world stage. The Gripen was designed in the days of the Cold War and Swedish neutrality, with an intense fo40 with upgrades to sensors and related technologies, they expect the aircraft to remain a frontline asset for the next 30 years, which would give its basic design a service life of 55 years (DTI October 2007, p. 30). Tailored to Swedish requirements, the original Gripen A/B had no inﬂight refueling; communications, navigation and identiﬁcation electronics were integrated into a uniquely Swedish national system, and it carried a limited range of weapons. Gripen Demo and its associated avionics test rig. The Gripen Demo and the rig have three functions: to demonstrate the modiﬁed airframe and core avionics for the Gripen Next Generation design; validate improvements that can be applied to the worldwide C/D ﬂeet; and keep domestic ﬁghter-integration skills alive. One of the secrets to Sweden’s ability to develop its own world-class ﬁghters, even as larger nations struggle to keep up their end of collaborative programs, AviationWeek.com/dti SAAB DEFENSE TECHNOLOGY INTERNATIONAL MAY 2008 http://AviationWeek.com/dti

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Defense Technology International - May 2008 Contents Around the World Science Watch Tech Watch Learn and Live Think Again Vive la Difference En Route Out of the Box Package Deal On Watch Inside Job Programs Update The Net Back to the Future Busy Signal Mighty Mites Hull of an Idea Tough Enough Cutting Edge First Person In Review Insight

Defense Technology International - May 2008

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