The Gripen E’s avionics architecture that is particularly noteworthy. Saab claims that its design is nothing short of revolutionary. It is configured to enable the rapid insertion of new hardware and updated software applications to embrace new missions. This is an area in which Saab says it has invested enormously in developing. The computers themselves can be swapped out quickly to allow constant increases in processing power. It also means that customers can design and develop their own software, enabling the rapid introduction of new technologies and systems to deal with ever-evolving threats without hardware impeding progress.
Alongside its impressive avionics, the Gripen E totes some very high-end sensors. It was the first fighter aircraft to feature an AESA radar mounted on a rotating repositioner or swashplate. This enables the electronically scanned antenna, which is normally fixed in a forward position on fighter aircraft, to be slewed to the left and to the right in order to increase its field-of-view.
“The swashplate makes it possible to have a 140-degree search volume within a 200-degree look-angle around the nose of the aircraft,” explains Nordlander. “As well as scanning directly ahead, the swashplate allows the aircraft to scan further to the left and right, in fact, you can actually “look” aft left or aft right with the radar. This is a huge benefit during BVR [Beyond Visual Range] engagements or in a GBAD [Ground-Based Air Defense] environment when you don’t want to point the aircraft directly into a specific area.”
Designing and fielding low-observable aircraft such as the F-35 comes at an extremely high cost. It also takes a lot of maintenance to keep a stealthy aircraft flying in a combat-ready state. The Gripen is designed to be rapidly deployable in the field at austere bases with a small logistics footprint and maintained by a small team that can quickly service and regenerate fighters. “With Gripen, you do a turnaround within 10 minutes if you’re doing air-to-air [missions] — you do the refueling and re-armament — and that is building sortie generation so that we can perform a lot of missions in a defined period of time,” commented Saab’s Magnus Skogberg.
I wonder what they do with the pilots. A 10 minute turn around doesn't give you much time to unzip, dump and drain, and refit the zoot suit.
ReplyDeleteThe Navy does it with subs and, as is already the case in most air forces, they have more pilots than airplane. One pops out and a fresh one pops in.
DeleteEverything our planes are not.
ReplyDeletePretty, but if it comes up to an air to air conflict with a F35 the F-35 is supposedly the superior fighter. Both are out flown by the old F-22 Raptor.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a bunch of marketing hooey! No mention of defensive or offensive capabilities, weapons pods, speeds or other performance characteristics ... just a looky-see stuff and quick change artist stuff that may or may not have been thoroughly tested?
ReplyDelete