Gripen Delivers Fighters To South Africa

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Gripen Delivers Fighters To South Africa

Sep 30, 2008
Neelam Mathews


The South Africa Air Force (SAAF) has taken delivery of the first four of 26 Gripen NG advanced fighter aircraft ordered at the biennial Africa Aerospace and Defense show in Cape Town, South Africa.

Nine of the fighters are two-seaters and 17 single-seaters. Deliveries are scheduled through 2012.

Armaments

Currently the fighters are said to be armed with only a 27mm Mauser cannon. The short-range IRIS-T air-to-air missile is on order from Diehl BGT and additional weapons are under development. The first class of six instructors are now in training at Makhado.

Denel SAAB Aerostructures (DSA) has delivered 220 pylons for Gripen aircraft, with 80 more contracted. The South African company is set to receive another follow-on contract to make 80 more pylons through a modified design, bringing the total to 380.

Modification kits for the earlier pylons will also be produced under a separate contract. SAAB predicts there will be further requirements for pylons until 2013, implying further work for DSA, according to a trade magazine.

In addition to the pylon contracts, DSA has longstanding contracts for the manufacture of the Gripen main landing gear and the rear fuselage sections, for both the Swedish air force and all export customers. These contracts form part of SAAB’s Defense Industrial Participation Program for South Africa.

Major milestone

Defense Minister Mosiuoa Lekota said the ceremony was “a major milestone in the continuing process of re-equipping and revitalizing the SA National Defense Force – a process that started with the conceptualization of a new defense policy in the White Paper on Defense of 1996.

“From the inception of our democratic South Africa it was envisaged that the Defense Force should be a modern, technologically advanced force,” Lekota added. “The Gripen, the first truly modern front-line fighter aircraft in SA since the acquisition of Mirage fighters in the mid-1970s, is a potent symbol of that aspiration.”

This year has been a busy one for Gripen, with the aircraft participating in numerous fighter bids, including for Denmark, India, Norway, Switzerland, Croatia and Brazil.