JAS-39 Gripen
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The Saab JAS 39 "Gripen" (Griffin) is a 4.5 generation fighter aircraft from Sweden manufactured by Saab. The Swedish company Gripen International acts as a prime contracting organization and is responsible for marketing, selling and supporting the Gripen fighter around the world.
Development
The Gripen is designed for the expected high demands on flying performance, flexibility, effectiveness, survivability, and availability for the future of air combat. The designation JAS stands for Jakt (Fighter (lit. 'Hunt')), Attack (Attack), and Spaning (Reconnaissance), indicating that the Gripen is a multirole aircraft that can fulfill each mission type equally well.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 very good take off and landing performance and superb flying characteristics. The totally integrated avionics make it a "programmable" aircraft. With the built in flexibility and development potential the whole JAS 39 Gripen system will retain and enhance its effectiveness and potential well into the 21st century.
Gripen affords far more flexibility than earlier generations of combat aircraft, and its operating costs will only be about two thirds of those for JA 37 Viggen. This is especially impressive as the Gripen is a more capable aircraft, with a low purchase price.
Gripen has a built in electronic warfare unit making it possible to load more ordnance on to the plane without losing self defence capabilities.
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 x 800 m outline painted on the runway. Stopping distance is reduced by extending the relatively large airbrakes; 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 airbrakes and further pushing the aircraft down.
In designing the aircraft, several layouts were studied. Saab ultimately selected an unstable canard layout 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 useful payload.
Gripen is already in operational service with the Swedish Air Force which has ordered 204 aircraft (including 28 dual-seater), the Czech Air Force and the Hungarian Air Force (14 aircraft each). The Czech and the Hungarian Air Force are the first Gripen operators within NATO. Thereto, the Gripen has been ordered by the South African Air Force (28 aircraft). The UK Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) is operating Gripen as its advanced fast jet platform for test pilots worldwide.
The aircraft cost US$ 25 million in 1998.
Crashes
In all, four Gripens have crashed, two of them before the delivery to the Swedish Air Force. This is by no means an extreme number for this kind of aircraft; as a comparison, the test series of Viggen saw seven crashes. However, the first two Gripen crashes were recorded on video and ended up being shown many times on Swedish national television. As a result, a large part of the Swedish public got a skewed perception of the aircraft and came to consider Gripen to be dangerous and unreliable, as well as a waste of tax money and a general embarrassment. The aircraft has yet to completely shed this reputation, although the successful sales of the plane to several foreign militaries have perhaps helped restore the Swedish public's trust in the plane.
- In February 1989 the first prototype crashed on its sixth flight when landing in Linköping. The accident was filmed in a now infamous recording by a crew from Sveriges Television's Aktuellt. The pilot remained in the tumbling aircraft and escaped alive with only a broken arm.
- In August 1993 a Gripen crashed on the central Stockholm island of Långholmen during a low altitude, low speed manouver at an air show. The pilot, the same man as in 1989, ejected safely. No one on the ground was seriously injured. The cause of these first two crashes was Pilot-induced oscillation.
- In 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 from the ground-collision warning system that a crash was imminent. In accordance with the flight instruction he therefore ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by parachute.
- In 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 finally ejected from the aircraft and landed safely by parachute. The cause of the accident is still to be determined.
Specifications (JAS 39 Gripen)
External links
- [Saab Gripen] - Official website
- [Saab Gripen links] - dmoz
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