Wednesday 18 December 2013

The Gripen goes full Brazilian!

Wait...  Maybe I phrased that wrong.
It looks like Saab has another customer.

Hot off of the Dassault Rafale being disqualified from its F-X2 fighter competition, Brazil has decided to declare Saab's Gripen as the winner.

With the Rafale gone, and the F-18E/F Super Hornet weighed down with the extra baggage of limited technology transfer and...  Uh...  American wiretapping,  The Gripen's victory isn't much of a surprise.

It's just a model...  For now.

Will this lead to development of the Sea Gripen?  Will the increased orders help secure the Gripen NG's development and help Saab lower costs even more?  Will this free up Saab's marketing department to start working on Canada next?

Let's hope so.

7 comments:

  1. That was good news for us in Sweden! I hope Canada and Sweden will develope Gripen NG together but I suppose you have to buy from the US of political reasons. Industrial cooperations that I know about between our countries has worked very well , for example Bombardier and ABB and different companys in the paperindustry.
    Merry Christmas
    Marcus R

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  2. Quote RT, "better performance, cost and willingness to transfer technology"

    How hard can it be ?, The possibility to build the aricraft in Canada is an unbelivable offer.....

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  3. Once SAAB have signed contracts with the Swiss & Brazilians they can focus on Canada, by that time some of the risk in regards to the NG variant would have been lessened, making it more attractive to potential customers. I think Malaysia is a real possibility for a lease agreement.

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  4. Replies
    1. Crap. You caught me. (That'll teach me to rush a post)

      FIXED.

      Delete
  5. The deal will probably not stop at 36 Gripen's, it will most likely be near, or surpass, 100 Gripen's.

    It's also a Brazilian ambition to use the same supplier for their navy, ie old and new aircraft carriers.

    This deal was the worst possible outcome for both Boeing and Dassault.

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  6. Looks like the Gripen just saved GE and Boeing from scrapping the Advanced Super Hornet. SAAB will buy 100+ new engines from GE, effectively securing the production and development of the F414 engine. And Boeing and SAAB will work together to produce a contender for the next gen US trainers. No matter how you look at it, the deal is a lifesaver for the US industry as well. The question is, what will the US military cut in the future?

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