Saab waits on Brazil and India for Sea Gripen go ahead

Saab will only develop an aircraft carrier-capable version of its JAS 39 Gripen NG fighter should either India or Brazil select the land-based variant to fulfil their fighter replacement programmes, the company has said.

Eddy de la Motte, Gripen campaign director for India, told reporters on 12 June that development of the aircraft has, to date, been driven by its core customer, the Swedish Air Force (SwAF). With no Swedish requirement for a navalised aircraft, it requires a customer with a carrier capability to serve as a catalyst for any such development of the proposed Sea Gripen.

"[Development of the Sea Gripen] only makes sense if India or Brazil buy the NG as Sweden has no carriers," he said during a briefing at the company's Linköping facility in southern Sweden.

According to de la Motte, the 'land' Gripen needs only rudimentary changes to make it carrier compatible. These include a strengthened undercarriage, bigger brakes and a tail hook (which the NG will have). The standard Gripen has a large number of the attributes for carrier operations, such as a high precision landing capability, a high pitch and roll rate authority and precision glide slope control, a reinforced airframe and enhanced anti-corrosion protection.