Following on from captive carriage trials that were undertaken in July, Saab’s first test aircraft for the Gripen E next-generation fighter conducted its first stores release trials earlier in October. Aircraft 39-8 jettisoned a fuel tank and fired an IRIS-T air-to-air missile during the test campaign at the Vidsel test range in northern Sweden.

“As a pilot, flying with external stores such as drop tank and missiles is important to allow for evaluation of how the aircraft behaves with the stores attached. This test was also used to evaluate the effect on the aircraft when releasing and launching the stores,” reported Marcus Wandt, experimental Gripen test pilot at Saab. “The highlight was, of course, to pull the trigger and watch the missile fire away. It also brings us closer to making the aircraft ready for its operational use.”

Jonas Hjelm, senior vice president and head of Saab business area aeronautics, commented, “I am pleased to see the aircraft behaving and performing according to our expectations, which is proof of its smart design and world-class engineering by Saab. The program is on track, and we are making good progress in the program toward delivery to our Swedish and Brazilian customers.”  

Meanwhile, Saab has been contracted by the U.S. government to supply an X-band AESA fighter radar for evaluation as part of the Foreign Comparative Test (FCT) program. The radar incorporates GaN (gallium nitride) semiconductor technology in its transmit/receive modules. Compared with the GaAs (gallium arsenide) semiconductor used in most current “e-scan” radar arrays, GaN permits more power to be transmitted through the array while generating less heat.

Since acquiring Ericsson Microwave Systems in June 2006, Saab has become a pioneer of “e-scan” technology and particularly in the GaN field, in which it has introduced the first production-ready GaN-based surveillance radars in the shape of the latest members of the Giraffe ground-based air defense radar family, and the first airborne application of GaN radar technology, the Erieye ER that is employed on the GlobalEye AEW platform that is in production for the UAE Air Force and Air Defence.

Saab’s GaN fighter radar draws on experience with the mechanically scanned PS-05/A radar that is in service in the Gripen C/D and has been offered as a potential system to India for the HAL Tejas Mk 1A fighter. The next-generation Gripen E/F features Leonardo’s ES-05 Raven repositionable-array radar that uses GaAs technology.