Saab has brought its new-generation Gripen to the Farnborough International Airshow not as a demonstrator aircraft for potential new technologies, as previously, but as a systems prototype for the intended production Gripen NG, or Gripen E/F as it is also known. Designated as aircraft 39-7, the two-seat Gripen has new avionics and new cockpit installed, and just before Farnborough received the full-standard Selex Galileo ES-05 Raven e-scan radar, complete with repositioner. In this guise, 39-7 has become the avionics testbed for the Gripen E/F.
By the end of next year Saab is scheduled to have flown a full E/F prototype aircraft (39-8), newly built to the upgraded standard. The final configuration of the Gripen E/F has yet to be decided, but the major elements are already selected. The aircraft will have a General Electric F414 engine, possibly in its higher-rated EPE variant, and has a wider fuselage housing more fuel. Additional weapons pylons are installed.
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Gripen NG aircraft will, in effect, be new-build machines although some elements of existing JAS 39C/Ds will be re-used, notably the wings. This is made possible by the E/F’s design, which widens the fuselage to achieve greater lifting area rather than enlarging the wing surfaces.
In the meantime, Saab continues to market the current Gripen C/D, highlighting the type’s good performance and low cost per flying hour, and to support existing customers. Hungary has recently extended its Gripen lease to 2026, and negotiations are ongoing with the Czech Republic to also extend. Thailand is to receive its second batch of six aircraft next year, with most of them already flying in Sweden.
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Saab’s UK office is also continuing conceptual work on a carrier-capable Sea Gripen, with an eye on Indian and Brazilian requirements. Risk-reduction work on the Sea Gripen will continue up to the point of an evaluated concept, according to a Saab official, “and then we’ll park it” to await further developments.