SAAB JAS 39A/B/C/D Gripen

[Scorpion82]

Will that be the Gripen C? What happened to the Gripen As that were retired years ago?

It will certainly be C/D models. Some A/B were converted to the C/D standard in the 2000s. IIRC 31 airframes were affected, maybe more. It allowed the SwAF to achieve a strength of 100 JAS 39C/D. It must be remembered that 28 C/D out of 84 ordered were leased to Chechia and Hungary, albeit I'm not entirely sure whether both export customers received new build C/D or whether one in fact received convertes A/B models.

 

[TomcatViP]

Hungary probably have the older airframe. One of the video depicting maintenance of the leased airframe, there is some recursive occurrence of comments from the ground crew that this or that was phased out and newer design added welcomed slight improvements.

 

[FighterJock]

That is interesting Scorpion82, I am surprised that they converted some Gripen As to the C model but they must have been the last As delivered to the Swedish Air Force so they would have had the lowest number of flight hours on the airframe to allow for that.

 

[Scorpion82]

That is interesting Scorpion82, I am surprised that they converted some Gripen As to the C model but they must have been the last As delivered to the Swedish Air Force so they would have had the lowest number of flight hours on the airframe to allow for that.

120 JAS 39A/B were delivered to the SwAF between 1993 and 2001 or so and many were retired therafter. The last 20 (of 110) Batch 2 Gripens were already build as C/D, all Batch 3 (64) were build as C/D. I don't know exactly when the SwAF eventually retired the A/B models, but it must have been until around 2005. The original A/B didn't comply with civil international regulations and NATO standards. While Sweden was no NATO member, it became a Partnership for Peace member. The A/Bs were certainly quite low on FH at the time of their retirement, question is what happened to the airframes that were not converted to the C/D standard, as these are out of service for around two decades already. It's subsequently questionable whether these airframes can be returned to service at all.

 

[FighterJock]

So what will eventually happen to the Grapen As that cannot return to service? Scrapped or put into museums? Let's wait and see if it is going to be the later.

 

[Scorpion82]

As said, I don't know, but I wouldn't be surprised, if the aircraft have long been scrapped.

 

[eagle]

Here's what happened to the 204 Gripen jets originally ordered by Sweden. Graphic is from 2000.



Text via the Swedish wiki page:

• 98 (88 light blue +10 green) operational C/D aircraft of the Swedish Air Force.
• 32 aircraft dismantled or destroyed.
• 28 aircraft leased to the Czech Republic and Hungary.
• 24 aircraft stored and to be sold.
• 12 aircraft sold to Thailand.
• 4 aircraft have been used as test aircraft.
• 4 crashes.
• 2 aircraft have been donated to the Air Force Museum in Sweden, and the Royal Thai Air Force Museum in Thailand.

The 32 broken up aircraft have most likely been used in the conversion to C/D models or used for spare parts. It appears they used 2 As to make one D while scrapping the B models.

Hungary lost one aircraft and is in the process of leasing 4 more so that's probably 5 aircraft taken from the 24 to be sold.

If I'm not mistaken, Czech, Hungarian and Thai Gripens are all upgraded A/B models.

Allegedly, there are also 14 C/D hulls i.e. empty airframes ordered by Sweden to keep Saab's assembly line busy while they were waiting for the E production to start. These would be in addition to the 204 aircraft originally ordered by Sweden.

 

[Scorpion82]

So all export sales of Gripen C/D to export customers, except for South Africa, are seemingly converted A/B models or taken aways from the Swedish C/D?

 

[eagle]

Yes, only the South African deal for 17+9 C/D models was for new built aircraft on top of the 204.

 

[Scott Kenny]

Yes, only the South African deal for 17+9 C/D models was for new built aircraft on top of the 204.

While that is cheaper for the airframes, that does not mean a whole lot of spare parts or other commercial activity for SAAB.

 

[Maro.Kyo]

Allegedly, there are also 14 C/D hulls i.e. empty airframes ordered by Sweden to keep Saab's assembly line busy while they were waiting for the E production to start. These would be in addition to the 204 aircraft originally ordered by Sweden.

Yeah, those were built during the 2010s and were recently offered to Philippines for their Horizon 3 MRF acquisition programme. Saab was very close to winning the deal, offering those 14 aircraft for the price of 12, but somehow the deal hasn't realized, probably becauae the Filipinos are very adamant on the fact that they want a F-16.

It also probably wouldn't help that Thailand regularly trains with the Chinese.