MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Brazil surprises and hands Sweden Gripens the contract for 36 new fighters
Sweden's Saab AB prevailed over U.S. giant Boeing and French manufacturer Dassault Aviation in a competition to supply the Brazilian air force with 36 aircraft to replace its aging Mirage 2000s, Brazil said Wednesday. Read full article
Comments
Disclaimer & comment rulesCongratulations to the Swedes,
Dec 19th, 2013 - 06:25 am - Link - Report abuse 0Who else flies these aircraft?
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen, is a really well balanced 4th generation fighter aircraft. It is a much cheaper alternative to the Rafale, Typhoon or F-18. With some similarity to the F-16.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 08:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0Significantly it was designed with significant low-or no-maintenance requirements and a very short refuel and re-arm time, so may perform multiple sorties in a day, limited simply by pilot fatigue.
Other operator include:
Czech Republic
Hungary
South Africa
Thailand
and we have a few for evaluation purpose.
Interestingly Switzerland eventually selected the Gripen even though the Typhoon & Rafale performed significantly better in live performance tests.
The significantly lower cost being the deal breaker.
Nice, cheap, plane.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 09:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0You get what you pay for, and I hope they work well for Brazil, I am sure they will.
It's not just a Gripen, it's the Gripen NG which really goes a long way to improving the already impressive performance of the baseline JAS39. Well done SAAB.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 10:14 am - Link - Report abuse 0IIRC the Sea Gripen is being designed in the UK - odds on that Brazil will also buy some of them at some point for their navy
Dec 19th, 2013 - 11:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0Sweden needs to make a bronze statue of Edward Snowden for this deal.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 11:33 am - Link - Report abuse 0The least they can do is drop the bogus charges against Assange.
Maybe this will teach the NSA not to snoop on so called friends, but they will probably continue to do so.
Maybe in 30 years they can sell them to Argentina.
According to Swedish media, Brazil is getting the technology in the package, the aircrafts will be built in Brasilia, as they will be equipped with Brasilian weaponry.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 11:35 am - Link - Report abuse 0Although I do dislike the military, I do see the need to be able to protect ourselves from any resource hungry invader, and for this, I very much prefer the Swedes than the others on the offer.
And no Chris, I'm not Brasilian now. I'm Latin American.
@2 Zathras
Dec 19th, 2013 - 11:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0I think the low-to-no maintenance and fast ground cycle time were designed in by the Swedes. The assumption (which seems reasonable enough to me) was that anyone invading Sweden would probably target and destroy anything resembling a military airfield as a high priority.
They've designed the Gripen to be able to be operated from short stretches of snow covered roads where they can be refuelled, rearmed and readied from the back of a lorry (probably also made by SAAB) by a technician and five conscripts in the space of ten minutes.
The uk have a few the fly at the test pilot school.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 11:52 am - Link - Report abuse 0Possibly the best they could get.
According to SAAB around a 36% of the Gripen by value is manufactured in the UK including the radar, ejector seat, landing gear, HUD, Weapons Pylons and airborne refueling systems. So good news for UK industry as well
Dec 19th, 2013 - 12:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0well that is what hapens when you spy on your ¨friends” ...Brazil has kicked the USA in the face.....
Dec 19th, 2013 - 01:13 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@ 9 Martin Woodhead
Dec 19th, 2013 - 01:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“Possibly the best they could get.”
They are good but not the best, not even “probably” the best.
I like the Gripen and salute Sweden for carrying on with the plane, but let us not get carried away with it.
Ah, now 2nd best is zee best!
Dec 19th, 2013 - 03:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Philippe
Much said on this transaction, which remained open for 12 years.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 04:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0For Brasil, the promise of a new defensive fighter, partially assembled in Brasil, with full technology transfer. And yes, a third of the components are manufactured in the UK, an equally good statement, or marque of quality.
The actual cost expended, or COST SAVINGS is more telling:
1.) 4.5 Billion for the SAAB Griffen.
2.) 8 Billion for the Dassault Rafale, almost twice the price.
3.) 7.5 Billion for the Boeing Super Hornet, a savings of 3 Billion.
So one has to ask that if the US was on the best of terms currently with Brasil, ( which it is not at the moment ), would the Super Hornet have been the final choice ? I think the answer is no.
France currently is on good terms with Brasil, and according to Veja most of our pilots wanted the Rafale, yet Dassault was left out of the running.
The amount budgeted had to be spent or lost, so a cost decision was made, resulting in a savings to be spent elsewhere.
Also note the mention of the Amazônia Azul in regards to the final decision. You will hear much of this in the future regarding Brasil and it's resources.
The other side of the story is that the SAAB Griffen is good enough to deal with any 'local threats' from emerging junta's.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 07:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Griffen... I remember it as Gripen... Or is that the Swedish name...
Dec 19th, 2013 - 07:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0the delusion of Stevie is quite bizarre
Dec 19th, 2013 - 08:15 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“protect ourselves from any resource hungry invader” followed by “I'm Latin American”
@4 You mean the JAS 39E. How come Sweden's only ordered 60?
Dec 19th, 2013 - 08:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@7 Brazilian weaponry? Nothing worth being concerned about then. 36 Gripens? The Typhoon has 13 hardpoints for BVR weaponry. One pass by the Falklands Typhoons. No Gripens. Just the way it is! And now you're a latino arsehole. Good for you. Sometime quite soon you might be a starving, cannibalistic troglodyte. Which bit are you looking forward to? Bet it's the cannibalism. Fits with your displayed character.
@11 And what will happen when the USA shits on latam? Latam will be smothered to death. Long overdue. Should have been done about 1950.
Good deal.
Dec 19th, 2013 - 09:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pofyKmcAzSw&list=UUEtaHyShEmJ1_2LMCgQG-NA
@14 BOTINHO
Dec 19th, 2013 - 09:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0What is the range of the Gripen?
I doubt it will get much “Blue Amazon”.
Ola Condorito -
Dec 20th, 2013 - 02:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0According to the Wikipedia page, which has a large amount of information on the Gripen/ Griffin aircraft:
1.) The combat range is 810 miles.
2.) The Gripen NG, or Next Generation variant uses the Boeing F-18 Hornet engine.
Thinking ahead, I am sure that Brasil is joining India in anticipation of the development a Sea Gripen model for part of the Gripen fleet, and not only and based aircraft.
Stevie, you are correct: Gripen is the Swedish name for Griffin. Perhaps if I recall the Monty Python film, the fictional animal was called a “ Jabberwocky ” in Olde English. ( Not much of a name for a fighter group ).
Not too long ago UK lost the bid for 126 fighter deal with India and a few hours ago...
Dec 20th, 2013 - 03:32 am - Link - Report abuse 0“Blow for Britain and BAE Systems as UAE rules out Eurofighter deal”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/epic/badot/10528636/Blow-for-Britain-and-BAE-Systems-as-UAE-rules-out-Eurofighter-deal.html
Brits and Yanks should know by now that spying or invading another countries land is bad for business.
Ola Marcos -
Dec 20th, 2013 - 06:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0I agree with you regarding spying ( or at least being discovered spying and handling it poorly, which is Merkel's complaint ) that getting “ caught with your pants down ” just looks bad. But reading the article, it does not even hint at that being the reason. The article in your link states that it is ( once again ) an issue of getting the best value for the best price. BAE and the UK were asking too much for the UAE
Bidding countries are buying new aircraft, and ADW systems, but demanding better contract conditions, including price.
Have you noticed that many countries now want modern features included, such a Remote Piloting, or pilotless capability ? That was one of the features available in the near future with the Gripen contract presentation.
@21 BOTINHO
Dec 20th, 2013 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0800km doesn't get much blue amazon.
Does Brazil have any carrier plans?
Argentina must wish they had 4th generation fighters with an 800km combat radius.
Bom Dia Condorito -
Dec 20th, 2013 - 04:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0It is actually 810 miles, or 1,300 km.
I am sure that considerations for Amazônia Azul have discussed the merits of carriers and the Sea Gripen model, but strictly from a defensive viewpoint.
Con dorito is Mozila, Batman, and suspicious ignorant from England education.
Dec 20th, 2013 - 11:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0#22
Dec 21st, 2013 - 12:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0So Marcos, the Typhoon deal has failed because of “spying from USA and Uk ? Your proof of this is ?
You know, of course, that Germany, Italy and Spain are in the consortium that make the aircraft. So they too are losing out.
Presumably because of their ”spying“ ?
It could well be that the Rafale, at present, has the edge on the Typhoon for the UAE's performance requirements.
However, the Rafale is not capable of much in the way of updating.
The development future of the Typhoon featuring new radars, offensive/defensive capabilities, will make it a much more capable aircraft than the Rafale.
There is also the grey area of ”middlemen's fees” so prevalent in Middle East deals. Who knows if this also came into the equation.
Bae and some American companies have been crucified for this in the past. They now have to be squeaky clean. The French have never had this problem. To them a sale is a sale, no questions asked.
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