PARIS—The Swedish Air Force is exploring how to evolve the Saab Gripen E fighter to deal with the increased need for electronic warfare (EW) capabilities.
“There is urgent need especially in Europe to complement what the U.S. have been helping us with over time. So we're very aware of that,” says the Swedish Air Force’s head of Gripen capability development, Col. Frederik Süsskind. “We are investigating, together with [Swedish defense procurement agency] FMV, how to further develop the Gripen E in terms of those capabilities down the line,” he told reporters on the eve of the Paris Air Show.
The focus right now for Sweden, though, is to get the 60 Gripen E fighters it has acquired into user hands. The first of those aircraft is due to be delivered this year, said commander of the Swedish Air Force, Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman.
Süsskind noted that it could take several years before Sweden settles on the plan for how to pursue the EW enhancement to potentially bolster suppression of enemy air defenses or destruction of enemy air defense capabilities, noting other capability enhancements will also be considered. He would not address what weapons Sweden might pursue to support the anti-air defense mission.
In parallel, Sweden is studying what new combat aircraft capability it needs to pursue to address future requirements. Those studies are supposed to be ready to support a political decision at the latest in 2030, said Brig. Gen. Lars Helmrich, director of the Air and Space Systems Division at FMV.
In addition to the Gripen introduction, Sweden is looking to expedite the entry into service of the Saab GlobalEye airborne warning and control system. Sweden ordered two initially and upped the commitment to three aircraft last year when Stockholm agreed to furnish two of its Saab 340 regional airliners equipped with the Erieye surveillance radar—designated ASC 890 in Sweden—to Ukraine. It also said it would try to expedite introduction of GlobalEye to minimize the capability gap.
Helmrich said Sweden decided to split delivery into two steps. “It will come quicker, but I won’t say when,” he said.
Wikman added that the GlobalEye configuration to be delivered will surpass the capability of the ASC 890s, but they will eventually need to go back to Saab to bring them up to deliver the final configuration the air force wants.
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