Above you see a slide from the SAAB Group's brief. I don't have a breakdown of the talking points from each but it appears that fully networked, and command/control of unmanned aircraft is being built into the Gripen.
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What I find funny about this whole thing is that both Saab's Gripen and Boeing's Super Hornet have shown me one thing about fighter jet designers: If they are under the impression that the odds are against them, they make wonderful machines jam-packed with capability for the cheapest price.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Hornet was made during a time of budget cuts and Boeing believed that the Super Hornet program could be cancelled on a whim at any time in congress. The Navy even changed its original name (it should have been called the F/A-24) to the F/A-18E so that they could pass it off as an upgrade of the basic Hornet despite the fact that it was for all practical purposes a new aircraft. Boeing then packed it with as much capability as they could and the Super Hornet in full rate production is cheaper than the Osprey.
Right now Saab feels that the odds are against them since Lockheed pretty much locked in all of their potential customers with the F-35. Their answer is to make the Gripen seem as cheap and as full of capabilities as possible. Boeing right now knows that they are at a disadvantage too since the Navy is officially signed on with the F-35C, but they feel they have a slight chance and their answer is the same.
I think if we want good jets we need to light a fire under the ass of our arms makers from the beginning and never let them get comfortable.