To make ‘Gripen’ jets, Swedish firm looks for partners in India

 

Gripen Fighter Jet

Swedish company Saab, which is within the race to form fighter jets in India, on Friday said it had been offering a completely “Make in India” solution, including technology transfer and setting up of local capabilities. 

Saab makes the fighter jet “Gripen”, which is one among the seven companies within the race for the multi-billion dollar multi-role fighter (MRFA) project. The Indian Air Force (IAF) has floated a tender to seek 114 such jets and is looking for a make in India in partnership with a foreign supplier. 

Head of the Gripen India campaign Mats Palmberg, speaking at webinar with India based reporters, said “Our focus is on providing indigenous content and capabilities to be ready to achieve self-reliance (for India) for needs of two days before.” 

On being asked what is the difference between the offer Saab has made over and above the previous such fighter jet programme by India, Palmberg said technologies had matured since 2008. “The big difference is the depth of technology and capability that we are prepared to transfer and set up in India,” he said. 

India had floated a world tender in 2008 and cancelled an equivalent in 2015 choosing to shop for Rafale. 

The Gripen comes with GE 414 US engine, on being asked if different engine are often used, Palmberg said, thus far the offer is with the GE engines. Replying to a different question, he said the corporate could integrate India-made missiles with the Gripen. On being asked about Saab’s India partners, Palmberg said, “We want to have several partners for ‘Make in India’ solution and are looking forward to working with individuals to establish our eco-system. 

We are in-tuned with international partners to satisfy the Indian needs for indigenous content. If we are successful, an equivalent capabilities that we use in Sweden are often utilized in India.”

About Gripen

The Gripen is a multirole fighter aircraft, intended as a lightweight and agile aerial platform with advanced, highly adaptable avionics. It has canard control surfaces that contribute a positive lift force at all speeds, while the generous lift from the delta wing compensates for the rear stabiliser producing negative lift at high speeds, increasing induced drag. Being intentionally unstable and employing digital fly-by-wire flight controls to maintain stability removes many flight restrictions, improves manoeuvrability, and reduces drag. The Gripen also has good short takeoff performance, being able to maintain a high sink rate and strengthened to withstand the stresses of short landings. A pair of air brakes are located on the sides of the rear fuselage; the canards also angle downward to act as air brakes and decrease landing distance. It is capable of flying at a 70–80 degrees angle of attack.

The JAS 39E and F variants under development are to adopt the F414G powerplant, a variant of the General Electric F414. The F414G can produce 20% greater thrust than the current RM12 engine, enabling the Gripen to supercruise (fly at supersonic speed without the use of afterburners) at a speed of Mach 1.1 while carrying an air-to-air combat payload. In 2010, Volvo Aero stated it was capable of further developing its RM12 engine to better match the performance of the F414G, and claimed that developing the RM12 would be a less expensive option. Prior to Saab's selection of the F414G, the Eurojet EJ200 had also been under consideration for the Gripen; proposed implementations included the use of thrust vectoring.