Gripen NG Demonstrator will be displayed to the public for the first time outside Sweden. The event will take place in the UK during the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) in Fairford 17–18 July and the following week at the Farnborough International Airshow.
The fighter will be arriving in Farnborough on Monday, 19 July and will be on static display until Friday 23 July.
Gripen NG Demonstrator is a flying platform for the development of new technologies and features incorporated into the Gripen NG – the next generation fighter with significantly increased combat range and endurance, increased payload and super-cruise capability.
“The extensive flight test programme with Gripen NG Demonstrator aircraft continues successfully and according to plan at the Saab facilities in Linköping, Sweden. This gives us the unique opportunity to bring the aircraft to UK during the Swedish summer holiday break,” says Lennart Sindahl, Senior Vice President Saab AB and Head of Business Area Aeronautics.
Previously, the Gripen NG Demonstrator has only been outside Sweden once. This was in May this year when it flew from Sweden to India, where evaluation trials were conducted by the Indian Air Force. This demanding evaluation phase included operations at the Indian air base Leh, situated 3300 meters above sea level. During this time, the aircraft also passed its 150th flight and to date it has conducted more than 175 sucessful flights.
The Gripen NG Programme offers a completely new avionics systems structure which will guarantee over 100% spare computing capacity and 30% spare capacity in all of the aircraft systems. The new structure makes it very easy and cost-effective to incorporate new functionality or integrate new hardware which in turn ensures that Gripen maintains its world leading capability throughout its service life.
Saab is now testing all the tactical systems, such as the AESA radar and the new communications system.
“The test programme is very extensive, we have finished, and successfully verified, the flight tests of the electro-optical Missile Approach Warning System (MAWS) and the new fuel system with larger internal fuel tanks,” says Mattias Bergström, the Gripen NG Demonstrator project manager.
The results of the Gripen NG Demonstrator Program will be used in both existing and new versions of the Gripen specifically tailored to the needs of specific customers, both nationally and for export.
Successful Partnership
A partnership between Saab, the Swedish Government and some of the world’s leading aerospace companies has been established to support and fund the Gripen NG Demonstrator Programme. The programme is aimed at demonstrating a range of future technologies and capabilities to ensure that Gripen remains at the leading edge of fighter aircraft performance and capability well beyond 2040.
