Saturday 25 October 2014

Saab nears Gripen contract with Brazil

    
Saab Gripen
Saab Gripen
      Saab is on track to sign a contract with Brazil to provide its air force with
 the Gripen NG multirole fighter, following the nation's selection of the type for
 a 36-aircraft purchase in December 2013.
Speaking on 23 October, chief executive Håkan Buskhe said an agreement 
should be signed “in the near future”.
“The negotiations with Brazil regarding Gripen NG (Gripen E/F) move forward
 according to plan, and the ambition is to reach an agreement in the near future,”
 Buskhe states, as part of the Swedish company's year-to-date financial results 
release.

On 18 December 2013, Brazilian defence minister Celso Amorim and air force 
commander Gen Juniti Saito declared Saab the winner of the F-X2 fighter contest. 
It was also announced that the negotiation phase would take 10-12 months to complete.
The acquisition will cost some $4.5 billion, with the purchased aircraft to 
replace retired Dassault Mirage 2000C fighters and a number of modernised
 Northrop F-5EMs. Deliveries are expected to start 48 months after the contract 
is signed, and will eventually reach a rate of 12 aircraft per year.
An option to supply Brazil a bridging fleet of existing Swedish air force
 Gripen C/Ds could also be included in the deal, following Brasília’s retirement of
 its Mirage 2000C/Ds at the end of 2013 and the need for an interim capability
 until the new-build Gripens enter service.
In July, a memorandum of understanding was signed by Saab and 
Brazilian manufacturer Embraer, whose absence had been noted last December 
when the Gripen selection was announced. “This is thought to further strengthen
 Gripen’s position in the market,” Buskhe says.
Brazil’s Gripens will be assembled at Embraer’s military factory and flight test 
centre in Gavião Peixoto, the company's chief executive Frederico Curado said
 in July.
Embraer will also play a role in developing the two-seat version of the Gripen 
NG, which would mark its first significant effort in designing and producing
 a new supersonic aircraft. 
                                                                                                                    Flightglobal

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