At the Swedish Aerospace Company Saab, Speaks About the New E
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JOHAN SEGERTOFT, HEAD OF THE GRIPEN E PROGRAM at the Swedish aerospace company Saab, speaks about the new E version in terms that might seem more suited to computers than to military hardware: He talks about software upgrades and data layers, coding and multicore processors. “Our job is to let the pilot make decisions faster than the other pilot,” Segertoft says, and, over the years, Gripen pilots have out-maneuvered a few other hotshot fighters in international exercises. The JAS 39E Gripen, which first flew last December, is the latest version of a Mach 2 fighter that rolled out in 1987. To an untrained eye, the Gripen E does not look greatly different from its predecessors which flew 50 years ago. The Brazilian air force Delta-winged, conical-nosed jet fighters that fly at twice demonstrated its fi rst Saab the speed of sound and carry a few tons of bombs and mis- Gripen E last October. By providing high-end capabilities siles under their wings were around in the Vietnam War. at a fraction of the cost of But an aircraft’s effectiveness is no longer determined other fi ghters, the Gripen has mainly by how fast it can fly or how quickly it can turn. been an export success for Now it’s about how well it can interpret information Saab. Brazil ordered 36. 40 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com SMART FIGHTER In an era when software upgrades are critical, the Gripen strives to be the iPhone of aircraft. ■ BY TOM CHIVERS LINUS SVENSSON/SAAB February/March 2021 AIR & SPACE 41 from many different sources and present the data to aircraft in order to protect our country and make Three Swedish pilots in ways they can instantly understand and act sure the rest of the armed forces can mobilize.” Armed Forces Gripen fi ghters upon. And while the technology of how to make an Its single focus has given the manufacturer Saab participate in a long- airplane powerful, streamlined, and maneuverable a proclivity for making strange-looking airplanes. range, long-duration is fairly mature, computer technology continues Its first aircraft entered service with the Swedish Bomber Task Force to improve exponentially. So an aircraft’s effec- air force in 1941—a relatively conventional dive- mission over Sweden tiveness in battle is determined, in part, by how bomber, the Saab 17. But after that, Saab produced on May 20, 2020. The fi ghter’s small quickly its electronics can be upgraded. And since a sequence of quirky aircraft. There was a small radar cross-section the middle of the last century, Sweden has been twin-boom, pusher-propeller fighter, the Saab 21, gives it an advantage pursuing effectiveness for one very specific battle. which was upgraded to jet engines after the war, in dogfi ghts, and looked rather like the de Havilland Vampire. allowing it to fi re Sweden is a non-aligned country, but although Then in 1955 came the Draken—a big, high-speed, missiles at close range. it has never joined NATO, it has been clear since high-altitude interceptor. Next, in 1967, Sweden the cold war who its likely adversary would be. unveiled the Viggen, a strike fighter designed for “Being neutral, just next to this huge country, short take-off and landing, reflecting Sweden’s Russia, meant that we have been very focused expectations that its air bases would rapidly be on defensive counter-air,” says Colonel Torgny targeted in any war with the USSR. Fälthammar, a former Gripen pilot and head of These aircraft were both striking and unusual— the Swedish air force’s Gripen program. Sweden the Draken with distinctive wide, double-delta must be “able to intercept and take down attacking wings; the Viggen, with canard foreplanes. And both aircraft were groundbreaking in a variety of ways. “What was really cool,” says Richard Smith, Technology transfer Saab’s deputy head of marketing on the Gripen came with Brazil’s project, “was that [the Draken] had the first data purchase of the link.” Ground radar stations transmitted tiny Gripen. Brazilian packets of data via radio to the Draken: the pilot engineer Marcelo Tonial trained in would be sent tactical information, such as the Sweden to maintain speed and altitude of the target, or the direction the avionics units on to it, given as a point on the radar scope. The idea Gripen fi ghters. He was that, in a war with Russia, unsecured voice is being assisted by radio could be easily intercepted or jammed, while Pernilla Löfgren to learn how to use digitally transmitted information was more secure. equipment that will The Viggen, meanwhile, was the first production automatically test fighter with a head-up display. It also expanded the avionics units. You can tell a SmartFighter by its cockpit: A Gripen JAS 39E demo model shows the Wide Area Display that dominates the pilot’s view. It’s a panoramic, high-resolution touchscreen that serves as the main source of fl ight information, which is provided by multiple sensor inputs. AVPICS/ALAMY 42 AIR & SPACE airspacemag.com upon Draken’s data links to include data-sharing in 1982,” he says. “And it was risky, because in 1982 between aircraft as well as from ground stations. the computer technology meeting the require- Also, “it was one of the first aircraft to have a central ments regarding performance and miniaturization computer,” says Smith—although it was so long did not yet exist.” This stripped-back design also ago that it was known as a “central calculator.” helped keep costs down. “An engine is around $10 Then, in the 1980s, came the Gripen. million, say, so [by using just one] you’ve imme- From the beginning, the Gripen was designed diately reduced the price by a sensible amount,” with its electronics in mind. A relatively small says John Sneller, head of aviation at the defense aircraft, it is single-engined and weighs about six analysis company Janes. A further advantage is that Saab is able to avoid “ WHEN YOU GO DOWN INTO THE many of the political considerations that tied up the Eurofighter project. That meant it could buy COCKPIT, IT’S HIGH-TECH, IT’S off-the-shelf parts—for instance, it uses a General SLEEK, IT’S LIKE SITTING DOWN IN Electric F404 engine, built under license by Volvo. A MODERN SPORTS CAR.” Using premade parts of known reliability reduces — TORGNY FÄLTHAMMAR, HEAD OF THE GRIPEN PROGRAM risk and cost. “It’s adding risk on risk if you’re building a new aeroplane and a new engine at the same time,” says Sneller. “You saw it with the F-35, A400M, Tornado, and Typhoon. Trying to do everything to the top level of tech at the same time is a high-risk approach.” But in international collaborations, it can be hard to avoid. tons empty. Its similar-looking but twin-engine A defense industry worker and former Royal Air contemporaries, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Force fighter pilot who asked to remain anonymous French Dassault Rafale, come in at 11 and 10 tons describes the pressures that influence international respectively. It was built so small, says Fälthammar, projects. “If you look at Typhoon,” he says, “four because its designers expected computers to get countries each make a bit of the radar; the engines COURTESY SWEDISH ARMED FORCES COURTESY small enough to fit in it. “That decision was made are made by Eurojet.” Politics are involved: “ ‘I February/March 2021 AIR & SPACE 43 need jobs for Lancashire, I need jobs for central can work out it’s a Russian engine in a MiG-29.” Italy’—Saab can be a lot leaner and more agile and He continues: “An F-35 is flying around look- [they] don’t have to try to keep everyone happy.” ing for things. It’ll have flight plans for airliners. [The pilot will] get a blip. It will say that’s in an airway. There’s a 92-percent chance it’s an airliner. IT IS ALSO A FORMIDABLE AIRCRAFT IN Whereas if it’s a small blip, I might want to spend MORE TRADITIONAL RESPECTS...CAPABLE a lot more effort finding out if it’s something I OF CRUISING AT SUPERSONIC SPEEDS should be interested in.” WITHOUT AFTERBURNER EVEN WHEN Modern electronic warfare measures rely heav- ily on computer power. “One thing that sets the CARRYING EXTERNAL WEAPONRY. Gripen apart from its direct competitors is the degree to which the entire aircraft and systems were designed around the electronic warfare suite,” says Justin Bronk, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute specializing in combat airpower and technology. That includes both electronic countermeasures (ECM) and The Gripen E project began in 2010 and—even counter-countermeasures. If an enemy radar is more than the earlier versions—was built around using a certain frequency, your ECM can blast that Personnel at the its electronics suite. “Gripen E has some of the frequency at it, so that it is deafened with noise; Kecskemet Air Base coolest sensors available, but to use them in the but it can deploy counter-countermeasures, such in Hungary created best way you need computer power to fuse all that as switching frequencies, so your ECM needs to this display of a information and provide it to the pilot in such a be clever at identifying those frequency switches Gripen and its components, way that he can complete his task,” says Segertoft. and keeping up. apparently believing Processing power has other uses: Modern fighters And each year, as the state of the art improves, that maintenance can identify other aircraft by the particular radar the complexity of these systems explodes.