Brazil's decision to procure the Saab JAS 39 Gripen E to satisfy its F-X2 fighter replacement programme has breathed new life into the company's Sea Gripen concept, a source told IHS Jane's on 19 December.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that the deal for 36 aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force "opens up a whole new realm of possibilities" for the Sea Gripen, with the Navy having a notional requirement for 24 aircraft to operate from its Sao Paulo aircraft carrier.
Having targeted the concept at Brazilian and Indian naval requirements, Saab now has a programmatic and industrial presence in one of those countries giving it an invaluable foothold with which to promote its Sea Gripen.
Further to the opportunities afforded by the F-X2 deal, the source told IHS Jane's that discussions with India have been taking place behind the scenes. "There has been a conversation with the Indian Navy, which is looking at the Sea Gripen separate to the [Indian Air Force] MMRCA [Medium MultiRole Combat Aircraft requirement]," he said, adding: "The Indian Navy [interest in Sea Gripen] never went away."
First revealed by Saab in 2010, the Sea Gripen concept features a number of navalised enhancements to the baseline Gripen E fighter to make it suitable for carrier operations. These include a strengthened undercarriage, bigger brakes, and a beefed-up tail hook.
The standard Gripen already 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. Its undercarriage and airframe is already capable of a sink rate of 15 ft/s, though this would need to be increased to about 25 ft/s for carrier operations.
As Saab is pitching the Sea Gripen for 'short take-off, but arrested recovery' (STOBAR) operations, it does not need to be equipped with the nosewheel-mounted launch bar required for 'catapult-assisted take-off, but arrested recovery' (CATOBAR) ships. As such, it could operate from both types of carriers, making it a suitable option for the Indian Navy's STOBAR ships INS Viraat and INS Vikramaditya , and future indigenous carrier; as well as the Brazilian Navy's CATOBAR Sao Paulo (it should be noted that the lack of a 'ski jump' on this ship might present issues in terms of the Sea Gripen's maximum take-off weight).
According to the source, Saab has completed all of the feasibility studies for the Sea Gripen and now just requires a launch customer to fund further development and production. While Brazil's F-X2 announcement does not yet provide this, its implications could be very fortuitous for the concept. As the source put it to IHS Jane's ; "The Brazilian deal currently changes nothing [for the Sea Gripen], but could change everything."
), this is one of the reasons why DCNS is supposedly promoting its PA2 carrier design to Brazil, as a future replacement for the NAe Sao Paolo. If a long term, package deal were preferred then the Rafale (in both land and ship based flavours) would stand a good chance of coming out on top.
