After receiving orders for airspace surveillance aircraft, SAAB took the opportunity to boost its sales at the Dubai Air Show with the announcement on the morning of that day 10 that the Gripen fuselage was almost complete and few details were missing for the final assembly of the aircraft.
Ulf Nilsson, head of business at SAAB, said three main fighter sections were just waiting to come together to form the fuselage. “We had fewer problems on the production line for the Gripen NG than with its previous model, the Gripen C/D”, he notes, this is attributed to the model's digital design. In addition, he confirms that the prototype aircraft will be ready by 2016 to start its testing program, but without a fixed date to be carried out.
He also highlights the progress being made with the Gripen E/F in partnership with the Brazilian Air Force and Embraer. The first group of 50 Embraer engineers and their families recently arrived in Linköping, over the course of the program more than 300 engineers from Embraer and other d industries in construction will participate and gain experience in the project, thus allowing the domestic production of the aircraft.
Noting that Saab already has the Czech Republic and Hungary as Gripen operators, he jokes: “Maybe Gripen will be the real 'Eurofighter'. However, SAAB is targeting Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and South Africa as possible future operators of the Gripen NG, however Nilsson notes that there will be no supply of Gripen to the Middle East. Among the European nations that SAAB is targeting for the sale of Gripens are Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovakia in addition to Finland and Belgium, but the sales agreements depend on the negotiation of the Swedish government.
So far, 60 Gripen NGs are expected to be manufactured in Sweden for the Swedish Government and 36 for the Brazilian Government. The Brazilian fighters will be delivered between 2019 and 2024.
