THE DRAKENPHILOSOPHYLt Col (ret’d) Jerry ‘Jive’ Kerby says,
‘Draken’s philosophy is that if we
build it they will come. We invested
in expanding our eet of aircraft with
the con dence that the contracts
would follow. You have to be ready to
y immediately if a contract is signed.’
Besides having capable aircraft, a
professional team is a vital factor
for success. Draken International
is growing all the time with an
expanding maintenance team and
pilot roster. All its pilots have a military
background, and many of them are
USAF Weapons School and TOPGUN
graduates or have experience of ying
in aggressor squadrons. Kerby, for
example, has more than 14,000 ying
hours. ‘The demand is there and that’s
great for Draken International, so the
future looks great for us’, he says. ‘It’sa lot of hard work, but if it was easy
anyone could do it. We have been
rewarded again and we are ready
to go quickly. We have gained a lot
of experience others may not have
learned. Even ying against fth-
generation aircraft such has the F-22
and F-35 we get outstanding feedback
from the USAF. We are professional
adversaries and regularly deliver more
than asked for and have no other
agenda other than to provide ‘Red Air’,
and we do that very well. We have a
very large inventory of ghter jets with
a diverse o ering of capabilities that
gives us the exibility to match the
needs of the customers.’
Looking at the wider USAF
requirement, Sean Gustafson
adds, ‘Draken continues to expand
appropriately to meet the insatiable
demand of the industry. We are
honored to continue our support
to Nellis AFB and look forward to
providing additional services across the
entire USAF, DoD and allied nations.’Force (RNLAF) joined the customer list as it
requested L-159 ‘Honey Badgers’ to
participate in its ghter weapons
instructor training (FWIT) course at
Leeuwarden. ‘We proved we could deploy
across the Atlantic and didn’t lose a single
sortie,’ says Jerry Kerby. Draken worked
closely with Skyline Aviation, a Dutch
company that has supported the RNLAF
for more than 25 years. ‘Our contacts with
the Dutch go back to 2015, when we ew
with our A-4s against their F-35s at
Edwards AFB. The RNLAF senior leaders
know what we can provide for them and
that paved the way to participate in
FWIT 2017.’
The ‘Frisian Flag’ exercise is interesting for
Draken, which says it is willing to
participate in both this Dutch exercise and
FWIT if the business case works for all
involved. ‘Europe is certainly a growth
market that will continue to mature as
allied nations expand their inventory of
fth-generation assets,’ says Kerby.
Referring to the British requirement for
contracted aggressor services under the
Air Support to Defence Operational
Training (ASDOT) program, Gustafson says,
‘We are currently teamed with Cobham in
the UK, a company that has a long,
successful history providing a similar
outstanding service in the UK.’ Further
a eld, many countries in Asia are
beginning to look outside of their own air
forces for credible, capable and cost-
e ective adversary air support.
Right: A Draken
L-159 joins
European partner
air forces F-16s
during the FWIT
exercise in 2017.
Frank Crébas/
Bluelife Aviation
Below: A fi ne shot
of radar-equipped
A-4K and A-4N
Skyhawks as they
fl y in the R-2508
range complex
near Edwards.
Frank Crébas/
Bluelife Aviationhttp://www.combataircraft.net // November 2018 37