Gripen News

I suggest we use this thread to post news about the Gripen.

https://twitter.com/Saab/status/877927465267712002

Gripen E second flight took place yesterday, lasting 68 minutes.

In their recent competition Bulgaria ranked Gripen C first, with a score of 0.9; second-hand Typhoon tranche 1 was ranked second, 0.61 points.

Portugal's offer - with a US logistics package - was not classified "because of its price proposal mismatch with RFP requirements."


http://www.investor.bg/biudjet-i-finans ... ss-241714/

SA use their Gripens to stalk Rhino poachers:

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/11 ... o-poachers

The article also quotes a cost of 6-8k USD per flight hour however also says that the journo does not know what is actually included in that number.

The Botswana Defense Force (BDF) commander this week confirmed for the first time that the country is negotiating a small order of Saab Gripen C/D fighters. Swedish defense marketing agency FMV said last month that the deal involves approximately eight aircraft.

http://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news/ ... gotiations

AFAIK the other plane being considered is the Korean FA-50.

A nice write-up on the Gripen E/F development:

https://www.ainonline.com/aviation-news ... enaissance

On Thursday last week Saab conducted the maiden flight of its new-generation Gripen E. Test pilot Marcus Wandt lifted off from the Saab plant at Linköping at 10:32 local time for a 40-minute flight during which handling was assessed. Wandt initially kept the undercarriage down while a simulated approach and go-around was conducted, before the gear was raised and the aircraft’s handling assessed in combat mode.

Austria plans to end its Eurofighter jet program early and replace it with a cheaper alternative fleet of aircraft bought or leased from another government, its defense minister said on Friday, amid a legal battle over the jets with Airbus (AIR.PA).

The defense ministry said in a statement that Austria's 15 Eurofighter jets could be phased out from 2020. The continued use of the Eurofighter planes for 30 years - the normal life span of such jets - would cost up to 5 billion euros, largely for maintenance.

The head of export and international relations at Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Joakim Wallin, said the FMV supplied Austria last month with pricing and technical information about 18 Saab (SAABb.ST) JAS Gripen fighter jets.
"We expect to hear from them again after the summer," Wallin told Reuters, referring to a potential deal that could see Saab sell the planes to the FMV which would sell them to Austria. He declined to give details on the price quoted.

Austria has also spoken with U.S. officials about its interest in the U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet, made by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), the largest arms maker in the world, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Full story: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-eurofighter-idUSKBN19S0ZN

Most likely they are considering the Gripen C/D and not E/F.

Austria plans to end its Eurofighter jet program early and replace it with a cheaper alternative fleet of aircraft bought or leased from another government, its defense minister said on Friday, amid a legal battle over the jets with Airbus (AIR.PA).

The defense ministry said in a statement that Austria's 15 Eurofighter jets could be phased out from 2020. The continued use of the Eurofighter planes for 30 years - the normal life span of such jets - would cost up to 5 billion euros, largely for maintenance.

The head of export and international relations at Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Joakim Wallin, said the FMV supplied Austria last month with pricing and technical information about 18 Saab (SAABb.ST) JAS Gripen fighter jets.
"We expect to hear from them again after the summer," Wallin told Reuters, referring to a potential deal that could see Saab sell the planes to the FMV which would sell them to Austria. He declined to give details on the price quoted.

Austria has also spoken with U.S. officials about its interest in the U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet, made by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), the largest arms maker in the world, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Full story: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-eurofighter-idUSKBN19S0ZN

Most likely they are considering the Gripen C/D and not E/F.

The E/F is bad value.

Hoping it's F-16 anyway

Talking to reporters in parliament, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov stated that negotiations would be held with three countries for the purchase of combat aircraft for the Bulgarian air force, reported BNR.

New ones must be bought, he added, not second hand machines.

http://www.novinite.com/articles/181066 ... achines%27

Interesting development.

Austria plans to end its Eurofighter jet program early and replace it with a cheaper alternative fleet of aircraft bought or leased from another government, its defense minister said on Friday, amid a legal battle over the jets with Airbus (AIR.PA).

The defense ministry said in a statement that Austria's 15 Eurofighter jets could be phased out from 2020. The continued use of the Eurofighter planes for 30 years - the normal life span of such jets - would cost up to 5 billion euros, largely for maintenance.

The head of export and international relations at Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), Joakim Wallin, said the FMV supplied Austria last month with pricing and technical information about 18 Saab (SAABb.ST) JAS Gripen fighter jets.
"We expect to hear from them again after the summer," Wallin told Reuters, referring to a potential deal that could see Saab sell the planes to the FMV which would sell them to Austria. He declined to give details on the price quoted.

Austria has also spoken with U.S. officials about its interest in the U.S.-built F-16 fighter jet, made by Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N), the largest arms maker in the world, according to a source familiar with the matter.

Full story: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-austria-eurofighter-idUSKBN19S0ZN

Most likely they are considering the Gripen C/D and not E/F.

The E/F is bad value.

Hoping it's F-16 anyway

The smart thing to do for Austria is to buy F35s then rent them by the flight hour to Germany through some EU defense cooperation mechanism. This will solve Germany's Tornado problem and Austria's operating cost problem.

I'm only half kidding.

Talking to reporters in parliament, Bulgarian PM Boyko Borisov stated that negotiations would be held with three countries for the purchase of combat aircraft for the Bulgarian air force, reported BNR.

New ones must be bought, he added, not second hand machines.

http://www.novinite.com/articles/181066 ... achines%27

Interesting development.

Even more interesting are the leaks from Bulgaria that the price for the first group of used, then updated, F-16s was 50% higher than the price of the same number of new production Gripen C/Ds, which Saab says it can deliver in 18 months. If ordered that would make the Gripen a shoo-in for the second batch because the total buy is going to be too small to support two different aircraft types.

I wonder what Portugal was asking for their used birds?

The E/F is bad value.

Switzerland (and Brazil) seems to disagree...

Swedish defense materiel organization FMV, which would facilitate any Gripen sale, said in a July 10 statement that while the aircraft meets all the operational requirements in Belgium’s request for proposals, Sweden itself could not meet Brussel’s need for “extensive operational support.”

“This would require a Swedish foreign policy and political mandate that does not exist today,” the FMV said.

http://aviationweek.com/defense/gripen- ... er-contest

So in other words; they are not saying that they withdraw because they do not have the technical capabilities to offer the support, but rather that due to Swedish policy they are not willing to offer the support that Belgium is asking for. This probably needs some additional explanations for those of you who are not familiar with Swedish politics.

Sweden has been "non-aligned" for a long time (since before WW1 I believe?) and in particular for the socialists (who are currently running the government) it seems important to show independence to NATO and the US.

Thus is should come as no surprise that Sweden says "no thanks" to enter an agreement that would force Sweden to support future NATO operations that may be not in aligmnent with Swedish policy.

Personally I think this is a clever move by the Swedish government -- they demonstrate to their core supporters that they give priority to their principles and internal Swedish policy rather than supporting Capitalist Saab at all costs; their core supporters are very unlikely to have much knowledge about military aviation and NATO and therefore will not appreciate that the Swedish government has stopped Saab from participating in a competition in which their chances of winning was approximately 0.00%.....

Oh well, such is politics.

Gripen E/F seems screwed by the available engine choices. SAAB doesn't have the clout to make the F414 EPE, EJ200x or M88-3 materialize, so their bird is badly short on thrust.

They were short-sighted to aim for anything less than an F-16 userbase to pickup customers unable to afford long term F-35 costs. You were unlikely to go head to head with F-35 for sales, but you have more dry thrust in the engine and most potential customers already have the supply line established for its use. Maybe you even go for an internal bay.

Gripen E/F seems screwed by the available engine choices. SAAB doesn't have the clout to make the F414 EPE, EJ200x or M88-3 materialize, so their bird is badly short on thrust.

It's not so much clout as money and time. Note that even the USN itself has not shown enough interest to be willing to fund the EPE. It's questionable, even with the new Super Hornet buys that they'll be willing to fund even the EDE with or without the wartime software thrust enhancement (which comes at the expense of engine life). As for Sweden, they've often said that if the EPE was out there (funded by someone else), they'd certainly be happy to look at it, but for what the E/F is designed to do the F414 gives them all the thrust they need. They have also said they are not willing to accept more thrust at the cost of engine life or operating costs. Same applies to the enhanced Euro engines. Frankly, they probably would have rather gone with a European engine because it would come without the strings associated with an American engine. But they didn't want to bear the costs and time of growing one of those engines, especially since the host countries weren't going to do it themselves and the F414 already gave them all the thrust they need.

Not sure what the basis is for saying they are badly short of thrust.