Aviation Week & Space Technology - 3 November 2014

34 AVIATION WEEK & SPACE TECHNOLOGY/NOVEMBER 3/10, 2014 AviationWeek.com/awst

Bill Sweetman Washington

All Systems Go

Brazilian Gripen contract signed ahead of schedule

S

ignature of a contract for 36

Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen fi ghters

for Brazil—covering technology

transfer, the development of the JAS

39F two-seater and a substantial role

in the program for Embraer and other

Brazilian companies—is a turning point

in Gripen’s history, Saab of cials say.

“It’s definitely the biggest export

order that Saab has ever signed,”

Lennart Sindahl, senior vice president

and head of aeronautics, tells Aviation

Week, describing the $5.4 billion con-

tract. “Some say it is the biggest single

export order ever signed by a Swedish

company, but I have not checked.”

Sindahl says he is particularly pleased

that the order was signed ahead of

schedule—the goal was to conclude the

contract a year after Brazil announced

its choice of the Gripen over the Boeing

F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Dassault

Rafale, in late December 2013. “The cus-

tomer handled the deal in a very profes-

sional manner,” Sindahl says.

Saab now has a fi rm-order backlog

for 106 JAS 39E/Fs, all of them new

aircraft. The fi rst of three development

aircraft, designated 39-8, is expected to

fl y in the fi rst half of 2015.

In early January, 100-150 Embraer

engineers are expected to arrive in

Linkoping, the site of Saab’s aeronau-

tics activities, he says. The team will

develop the JAS 39F and prepare for

co-production.

Around 15 of the Gripens will be

wholly assembled in Brazil, including

all of the two-seaters. The remainder

will be built in Sweden by Swedish

and Brazilian engineers. Deliveries

will run from 2019 to 2024.

The contract defi nes workshare for

Brazilian industry, but full details have

not yet been released. In 2013, Saab

said that if Brazil bought Gripens,

Embraer would have access to source

code for the development of upgrades

and weapon integration and would

assemble aircraft for Latin American

customers. Brazilian companies would

be eligible to bid for up to 80% of the

aerostructure work in the entire pro-

gram. Sindahl confi rms that “in gener-

al, the contract supports Brazil’s role as

a partner, including export sales.”

The suddenness of the signing on

Oct. 24 took many by surprise. Brazil-

ian officials at the rollout of the Em-

braer KC-390 on Oct. 21 said they ex-

pected the Gripen contract to be signed

toward the end of the year. The pro-

cess may have been brought forward

ahead of Brazil’s presidential election

that saw President Dilma Roussef re-

elected by a narrow margin.

The Brazilian government puts a $13

billion price tag on the program, includ-

ing the value of the technology transfer,

which Brazilian engineers hope could

eventually provide the know-how to

produce a domestic follow-on fi ghter.

The Brazilian air force’s plan is to

fi rst replace its F-5EM/FM force, while

a follow-on order to replace the AMX

International A-1M Striker—originally

a joint Embraer/Alenia development—

could come after 2024, bringing total

Brazilian orders up to 100 aircraft.

Brazil plans to use the Gripen for

air defense, airspace policing, attack

and reconnaissance. The fi rst unit to

receive the new model will be the 1st

Air Defense Group, based in Anapolis,

which has been without aircraft since

its Dassault Mirage 2000s were retired

in December 2013.

Two other aspects of the deal, fi-

nancing and a “bridge” lease of JAS

39C/Ds, are the subject of government-

to-government negotiation. The lease

is expected to be concluded before

the end of the year. Approximately 10

single and twin-seat aircraft reportedly

will be leased, with the aim of providing

an operational capability in time for the

2016 Olympic Games.

Financing for Saab’s share of the

contract will be provided by Sweden’s

EKN export-import bank. It was re-

ported in 2013 that Brazil will not have

to make any payments to Saab until

the last aircraft in the initial batch

had been delivered, and would have 15

years to pay after that.

Also in prospect is co-development

of the Sea Gripen carrier- capable

fi ghter. It would be based on a single-

seat version of the JAS 39F, with more

internal fuel than the JAS 39E.

Saab has “talked to representatives

of the Brazilian navy,” Sindahl says,

and the service has publicly disclosed

its team’s visit to Linkoping and the ar-

rival of a technical team from Saab on

the aircraft carrier Sao Paulo. The gov-

ernment announced in August that the

carrier, formerly France’s Foch, would

enter another major refi t in 2015 to re-

solve mechanical problems and would

serve until 2029.

Saab was “a little bit surprised,” says

Sindahl, by the Oct. 21 announcement

by the Brazilian and Argentine de-

fense ministers that they were ready

to negotiate an Argentine order for 24

Brazilian-assembled Gripens.

The U.K. and U.S. are unlikely to ap-

prove the sale of the Selex-ES Raven

radar or F414 engine to Argentina,

observers believe, unless that nation

abandons its claims on the Falkland

Islands. Moreover, deliveries of Em-

braer-assembled Gripens are some

way in the future.

Other Gripen export activities in-

clude a potential lease to Slovakia, and

Sindahl says there is “increasing inter-

est” in the Asia-Pacifi c region. c

With Tony Osborne in London.

DEFENSE

SAAB CONCEPT

Brazil should receive its new JAS

39E/Fs in 2019-24, with the fi nal

aircraft assembled by Embraer.

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