It looks like Saab has declined to answer the Canadian government's "questionnaire". To put it quite simply, Saab is not convinced that the Gripen will be given a fair shake, and that the F-35 is still predestined "winner".
It's no real surprise. Even after declaring the program "reset", the Canadian government has kept close ties to the JSF program and continues to dump money into the program. This makes any auspices of impartiality completely unbelievable. Other manufacturers remain unconvinced as well, asking for no less than a full, open competition.
Until a full and open competition is declared, it still appears that the "fix is in" for the F-35.
Correct decision by Saab, I hope the other manufacturers declines to answer the questionnaire.
ReplyDeleteAn open competition is the only way forward if it's not to be a Norway scenario.
That's an understandable position. Frankly, Dassault Aviation will probably answer, but without an open competition, there’s no real chance. Even in this case, I’m not sure the three ‘eurocanards’ have a true chance against U.S competitors.
ReplyDeleteBesides, I must say that I AM DISAPPOINT: the list of aircrafts for Paris Air Show was disclosed yesterday and there is bad news for visitors. As anticipated, U.S aircrafts will not be here, not even one fighter. But, I feel worse about Typhoon and Gripen, which are only on static display. I remember very well both flew in 2011 and 2007 (and most likely in 2009).
About Gripen, there is no precision about the variant on static display…