JAS 39 Gripen

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JAS 39 Gripen
Type Multirole fighter
Manufacturer Saab
Maiden flight 9 December 1988
Status Active service
Primary users Swedish Air Force
South African Air Force
Hungarian Air Force
Czech Air Force
Number built 184 delivered as of September 2006
232 ordered
Unit cost US$ 25 million (1998)
US$ 45 to 50 million (2006)
Saab JAS 39C Gripen of the Czech Air Force
Saab JAS 39C Gripen of the Czech Air Force

The Saab JAS 39 "Gripen" (Griffin or "Gryphon") is a fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. The aircraft is in service with the Swedish Air Force, the Czech Republic Air Force and the Hungarian Air Force, and has been ordered by the South African Air Force.

Gripen International acts as a prime contracting organization and is responsible for marketing, selling and supporting the Gripen fighter around the world.

Contents

[edit] Design and development

The Gripen is designed for performance, flexibility, effectiveness and survivability in air combat. The designation JAS stands for Jakt (Air-to-Air), Attack (Air-to-Surface), and Spaning (Reconnaissance), indicating that the Gripen is a multirole aircraft that can fulfill each mission type. Gripen got its name in a public competition in 1982.[1] The griffin is the heraldry on Saab's logo and suited the multi-role characteristics of the aircraft. Furthermore, the griffin is the symbolic animal of Södermanland,[2] a province neighboring the location in which Saab AB is headquartered (Linköping, Östergötland).

Flying properties and performance are optimised for fighter missions with high demands on speed, acceleration and turning performance. The combination of delta wing and canards gives the JAS 39 Gripen good takeoff and landing performance and flying characteristics. The totally integrated avionics make it a "programmable" aircraft. The Gripen also has a built in electronic warfare unit making it possible to load more ordnance onto the aircraft without losing self defence capabilities.

The JAS 39 Gripen affords far more flexibility than earlier generations of combat aircraft, and its operating costs are about two thirds of those for JA 37 Viggen.

The specifications for the Gripen required the ability to operate from 800 m runways. Early on in the programme, all flights from Saab's facility in Linköping were flown from within a 9 m × 800 m outline painted on the runway. Stopping distance was reduced by extending the relatively large air brakes; using the control surfaces to push the aircraft down enabling the wheel brakes to apply more force and tilting the canards forwards, making them into large air brakes and further pushing the aircraft down.

One interesting feature is the Gripen's ability to land on public highways. Once on the ground, it can be refueled and re-armed in ten minutes by a five man mobile ground crew operating out of a truck, then take off again and resume flying sorties. This gives its users a remarkable level of flexibility in deployment and resupply.

Sweden chose to develop the Gripen rather than purchase a variant of the F-16, F/A-18A/B, or the "F-5S" version of the Northrop F-20 Tigershark.

In designing the aircraft, several layouts were studied. Saab ultimately selected an unstable canard design to give the greatest benefits to performance. The canard configuration gives a high onset of pitch rate and low drag enabling the aircraft to be faster, have longer range and carry a larger payload.

[edit] Operational history

The Gripen is in operational service with the Swedish Air Force, which has ordered 204 aircraft (including 28 dual-seaters). The Czech Air Force and the Hungarian Air Force also operate the Gripen, and currently lease 14 Swedish Air Force aircraft each, with the option of eventually acquiring them. In both cases two of the aircraft are dual-seaters. The Czech and the Hungarian Air Force are the first Gripen operators within NATO. Gripen has also been ordered by the South African Air Force (28 aircraft, including nine dual-seaters). The British based Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) is operating Gripen as its advanced fast jet platform for test pilots worldwide.

[edit] BAE Systems involvement

In 1995, Saab Military Aircraft and British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) formed the joint venture company Saab-BAe Gripen AB, with the goal of adapting, manufacturing, marketing and supporting Gripen internationally. The deal was to take advantage of BAe's global marketing experience. BAe designed an improved wing, which they manufactured, and they produced around 45% of export airframes. BAe also saw the Gripen as a complementary product to its existing aircraft, fitting between its Hawk light attack/trainer and the larger Tornado and Typhoon fighters. This cooperation was extended in 2001 with the formation of Gripen International for the same purpose.

In December 2004 SAAB and BAE agreed that from January 2005 SAAB would take full responsibility for marketing of the Gripen in light of SAAB's increased export marketing capabilities.


[edit] Operators

[edit] Current operators

[edit] Potential operators

Other nations that are still showing interest in the Gripen are: [5]


Potential export customers also include: [6]

[edit] Incidents

Four Gripens have crashed, two of them before the delivery to the Swedish Air Force. While this is by no means an extreme number for this kind of aircraft (as a comparison, the test series of Viggen saw seven crashes), the public setting of the first two crashes initially gave Gripen a bad public image as being unsafe.

  • On 20 September 1999 a Gripen from Airwing F 7 at Såtenäs crashed into Lake Vänern during a dog-fight exercise. After passing through the wake vortex of the other plane, the aircraft abruptly changed course and the pilot got a warning of the highest severity from the ground-collision warning system. He ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by parachute in the lake, where his colleague observed him getting into the inflatable life raft. He was picked up by a rescue helicopter 27 minutes later.
  • On 1 June 2005 a Gripen from Airwing F 17 at Kallinge apparently ceased to obey commands from the pilot. After attempting to regain control while the aircraft slowly descended, the pilot ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by parachute. The cause of the accident is still to be determined.

The cause of the 1999 crash could not be determined until the crash protected memory was found some 15 months later. The preliminary report is available in English.[7] The final report - not available in English - concluded that the plane had passed through the other plane's wake vortex while in a steep (−70 degrees) dive. When passing, the pilot's pitch command was "up", but instead the vortex inflicted a large aerodynamic transient on the plane, throwing it down into an almost vertical (−85 degrees) dive. These factors combined created an angle of attack that was too large for the command to be obeyed, and in this instant the ground-collision warning system alerted the pilot that a turn to avoid a crash would require more than 10 G. He then chose, in full accordance with the flight manual, to eject. In the same moment, however, the vortex's effect ceased as suddenly as it had appeared, instantly reducing the angle of attack to within limits, and thus the plane was flyable again, and could in theory have been saved. The flight status in the moment of ejection was: altitude 750 m, flight angle −75 degrees, speed 350 km/h, angle of attack −8 degrees, and load −1.5 G.

[edit] Specifications (JAS 39 Gripen)

Farnborough Air Show, 2006
Farnborough Air Show, 2006

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1–2
  • Length: 14.1 m (46 ft 3 in)
  • Wingspan: 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
  • Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
  • Wing area: 25.54 m (274.9 ft)
  • Empty weight: 6,620 kg (14,600 lb)
  • Loaded weight: 8,720 kg (19,200 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 14,000 kg (31,000 lb)
  • Powerplant: 1× Volvo Aero RM12 (GE404) afterburning turbofan, 54 kN dry, 80 kN with afterburner (12,000 lbf / 18,100 lbf)
  • Wheel track: 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)

Performance

Armament

[edit] Gallery

Farnborough, 2006, static display

Farnborough, 2006, taxiing in after display

Farnborough, 2006, closeup

[edit] References

  1. ^ Swedish Defence Materiel Adiminstration, Gripen — Milestones. Retrieved on 17 February 2007.
  2. ^ Soldater och soldattorp i Taxinge socken. Retrieved on 17 February 2007.
  3. ^ Croatian Ministry of Defence On-line. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  4. ^ Militaryphotos: Pakistani interest in Gripen.
  5. ^ Defense Industry Daily: JAS 39 Gripen. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  6. ^ Defense Industry Daily: JAS 39 Gripen. Retrieved on 10 February 2007.
  7. ^ Statens haverikommission, SHK (Swedish Accident Investigation Board).
  • Griffiths, Dave. "AFM Evaluates the Gripen." AirForces Monthly, No. 144, March 2000.
  • Winchester, Jim (ed.). "Saab JAS 39 Gripen." Modern Aircraft (Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2004. ISBN 1-84013-640-5.

[edit] External links

[edit] Related content

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Related development

Comparable aircraft

Designation sequence

Saab 17 (bomber/dive-bomber)- MFI-15 Safari- Saab 18 (bomber)- Saab 21 (push-prop)- Saab 21R (jet)- Saab 29 Tunnan- Saab 32 Lansen- J 35 Draken- Saab 37 Viggen- Saab 39 Gripen

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See also

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