Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008 - (Page 28)

FA R N B O R O U G H 2 0 0 8 Saab Embraces Special Missions Work Saab has launched a new special missions family that is based on its Saab 2000 high-speed turboprop. Inspired by the success of the Saab 2000/Erieye airborne early warning and control system—which has been sold to Pakistan and generated significant market interest— Saab is now offering a family of airborne surveillance aircraft based on a common platform. While dominated by the Saab 2000, Saab’s special missions line-up still includes options for the smaller Saab 340. The newly updated product line includes: A Saab 2000 is seen here in an SAR role. Saab 2000 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) With a maximum range of more than 2,000 nmi and an endurance of nearly 10 hours, the MPA can stay on station for 5.5 hours (at a distance of 200 nmi) patrolling an area at 2,000 ft. It can be fitted with a suite of sensors including sea search radar, electro-optical and environmental The 2000 fitted with Erieye AEW&C hardware. Saab 2000 Erieye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) The Erieye AESA radar (developed by Ericsson, but now a Saab product) gives the Saab 2000 AEW&C an instrumented range of up to 400 km against air targets and 300 km against naval targets. The radar can detect vessels as small as rigid-hull inflatables and jet skis. Against small and low-RCS airborne targets, the range is 200 km. The Saab 2000 AEW&C carries onboard operators and can be datalinked to a national command and control system. In addition to the radar, it carries electronic surveillance equipment for surveillance and threat warning. The aircraft is fitted with various Saab countermeasures. The first of five Erieyes for Pakistan (on show at Farnborough) made its maiden flight on April 29 and is currently engaged in hot-andhigh testing at Grenada. 28 Saab 2000 SIGSTAR for signals intelligence has Comint and Elint capabilities. Saab 2000 SIGSTAR Signals Intelligence The SIGSTAR is outfitted for Comint (communications intelligence) and Elint (electronic intelligence) gathering, with a full electronics surveillance and self-protection fit. Onboard operators can undertake realtime signals analysis, or data can be stored and off-loaded when the aircraft has returned to base. Saab says the SIGSTAR concept has been developed “to meet a very definite customer requirement.” sensors. An automatic identification system will classify surface contacts, and the MPA can operate with an Erieye aircraft or on stand-alone patrols from austere airfields. Final product definition of the MPA is now underway. Saab 340 Maritime Security Aircraft (MSA) The MSA is a medium-range maritime patrol aircraft, based on the aircraft already in service with the Japanese Coast Guard. It has a range of about 1,300 nmi with a maximum endurance of over seven hours. A typical EEZ patrol mission (at a distance of 200 nmi) would have a time on station of 3.5 hours. Current aircraft are fitted with the Telephonics RDR-1700B radar and a FLIR Systems Star SAFIRE optical system. The MSA is intended for maritime surveillance, fisheries/ EEZ patrol and counter-smuggling operations. A quick-change interior allows the aircraft to be reconfigured as a transport. There are currently 58 Saab 2000s in service with various airlines, and Saab owns about half of this fleet through its aircraft leasing operation. The company says it will have no difficulty meeting shortand medium-term orders for its Saab 2000 platforms. Saab is now in head-to-head competition with its earlier partner, Embraer, which has developed its own family of special missions aircraft based on the EMB-145 regional jet. Matthew Smith, director of marketing for Saab’s airborne surveillance arena told Show News that Saab’s relationship with Embraer remained good, and that “if a customer comes to us and asks us to integrate the Erieye radar with an EMB-145, we will do it.” He declined to say that Saab was no longer actively marketing the Embraer/ Erieye combination. It is clear that Saab is now concentrating on its own products, using fully Swedishsourced aircraft and mission systems, and has cooled on future Embraer programs. —Robert Hewson July 16, 2008 www.aviationweek.com/shownews http://www.aviationweek.com/shownews

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008

Bombardier, Shenyang $5 Billion for Composites 787 and Seven V-22s for Export Sale? Saving Fuel at SFO Raytheon Roars Into UAVs Bell Eyes ARH-70A Costs All According to Plan We Fly the PC-12NG Russia’s T-50 PAK-FA Optimistic in Israel ICAO Sim Classifications Pratt to Power New Drone Russian Conglomerate

Farnborough 2008 Show News - July 16, 2008

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