Saab Staging Rollouts for New AEW and Gripen Fighter Developments

By Chris Pocock

April 15, 2008
Aircraft

Within the span of a month, Saab is rolling out two new developments with export potential. On March 27, the first Saab 2000 twin-turboprop airliner to be modified with the Erieye Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system made its public debut.

Later this month, Saab’s upgraded Gripen fighter will emerge. The company is hoping that Denmark and Norway will prefer this version, dubbed Gripen-Demo, to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

The Pakistan Air Force has ordered the Saab 2000 Erieye system, and the commander of that force–ACM Tanvir Mahmood Ahmed–attended the rollout at Linkoping, Sweden. Ahmed praised the new platform’s nine-hour-plus endurance, high speed and low operational costs.

Saab (previously Ericsson) Microwave Systems has sold Erieye systems to Sweden, Greece and Thailand on the smaller Saab 340 twin-turboprop airliner, and to Brazil and Mexico on Embraer EMB-145 regional jets. According to Saab, the larger Saab 2000 permits the carriage of more sensors for electronic intelligence and self-protection.

AIN will report further on the Gripen-Demo program in one of our forthcoming on-site editions at the Farnborough airshow in July.

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