Gripen comes of age at AAD 2010

At AAD 2006, the South African public got its first close-up look at the country's new Saab Gripen fighter, and in 2008, the first aircraft were formally handed over to the South African Air Force during the show. Now, another two years on, the Gripen returns to AAD as an operational fighter with a growing repertoire of capabilities, and with the confidence of a highly successful World Cup defence operation behind it.

South Africa initially ordered 28 (19 Gripen C single-seaters and nine Gripen D two-seaters) in late 1998 to meet its Project Ukhozi requirement for an advanced lightweight fighter aircraft, but subsequently cut two single- seaters from the order.

Saab's Magnus Lewis-Olsson and South African test pilot Charl Coetzee undertook the first flight of a South African Gripen D at Linköping on 14 November 2005, and in July 2006 it was shipped to South Africa to continue trials at the Test Flight and Development Centre at AFB Overberg. The SAAF accepted its first aircraft on 30 April 2008, although a formal handover was conducted at AAD in September, by which time four aircraft had been delivered.

That month, the first SAAF training began.

The initial conversion course was undertaken under contract by Saab personnel, but the SAAF itself. Experienced fast-jet pilots were inducted into the Gripen programme initially, but now the training syllabus is open to those without prior operational experience, and currently includes the SAAF's first female Gripen student.

Initial deliveries were of the two-seater version to expedite the training build-up. On 11 June 2009, the first South African singleseater took to the skies at Linköping, flown by Saab test pilot Richard Ljungberg, and was delivered later in the year. By April 2009, the force was proficient enough to participate in an airpower demonstration, flying combat air patrol sorties during an exercise in Limpopo province. The fleet then expanded its air defence operations in preparation for the World Cup operation, which was successfully conducted with 14 operational aircraft.

South Africa's Gripens Today the SAAF has 15 aircraft in service, with six Gripen Cs and eight Gripen Ds allocated to 2 Squadron at AFB Makhado. This unit handles the operational and type conversion commitments, and also has a small operational test and evaluation unit embedded for tactics development. The ninth Gripen D remains with the TFDC at AFB Overberg, where developmental test duties continue. Today these are primarily concerned with integration of the Denel Dynamics A-Darter missile. The 26th and final Gripen is due for delivery in 2012.

South Africa's Gripens are built to the Export Baseline Standard, but incorporate specific local requirements, including additional navigation equipment in the form of a traditional TACAN-based system that acts as back-up to the Gripen's standard GPS/INSbased system. There are also differences in the human-machine interface.

South Africa is monitoring developments of the Gripen closely, but further upgrades of the aircraft's system will only become an issue after the final aircraft has entered service. The nation then has the option of following its own development path, or staying within the roadmap of the international Gripen users' group. Weapon systems When it last appeared at AAD, the South African Gripen had only its 27mm internal cannon for armament, but much has changed since then. In May 2008, the SAAF ordered the Diehl BGT/Saab/Alenia IRIS-T imaging infrared air-to-air missile, as used by Sweden's Gripens, and these are now in service. However, IRIS-T is seen only as an interim weapon pending delivery of the A-Darter.

Development of the A-Darter (Project Assegaai) weapon - which is being undertaken jointly by South Africa and Brazil - is going well, and in July an SAAF Gripen performed the first firings at Overberg, following missile/aircraft integration work in Sweden. The first delivery of training rounds is slated for 2012, with the first service deliveries scheduled for 2013.

One area that has yet to be addressed is the provision of an active radar-guided missile since the SAAF's previous weapon, the RDarter, was retired along with the Cheetah in 2008. However, there is ongoing debate as to whether such a weapon is required, given the nature of expected threats. As well as international options, Denel continues to work on advanced radar seekers under Project Raster, which may lead in the future to a T-Darter missile for the Gripen.

A key element of the original requirement was an air-to-ground capability. To keep integration costs down, the SAAF has initially opted to purchase weapons that are already certified on the Gripen. Thus the service currently uses standard NATO Mk 82 500lb bombs, of which up to eight can be carried on dual-rack launchers.

For precision targeting, the SAAF has ordered the Rafael/Zeiss Litening III EO/laser designation pod, and to provide a complementary attack capability, the service announced an order in June this year for a number of Raytheon Paveway II laser-guided bomb kits.

Selection of the Paveway system does not necessarily rule out indigenous precision options, such as Denel's Umbani, in the future.

Finally, the Gripen fleet will soon get a reconnaissance capability through the Thales Optronics Digital Joint Reconnaissance Pod, being shown here at AAD for the first time. The DJRP was ordered last August and flight clearance work is to begin shortly in Sweden, before further development work in South Africa.

Source: Janes Defence