Gripen for South Africa

Article Courtesy of Gripen International Photos: Gripen International 2005


South Africa’s acquisition of the Gripen fighter is far more than a plan just to buy new aircraft. Instead, the programme has become a carefully crafted vehicle to bring new skills, new capabilities and new opportunities across South Africa.


From the very beginning South Africa’s Gripens have been shaped by very clear national requirements. They were not bought ‘off the shelf’ or in a configuration dictated by the manufacturer. Project Systems Engineer Lt Col Mike Edwards explains, “we were involved in the Gripen programme from the earliest stages. We influenced the entire design process [of our aircraft] where we added our own requirements and made specific changes for South Africa.”

Col Chris Skinner, one of the two senior managers in the 10-strong South African Gripen Joint Project Team (GJPT) living and working Sweden, along with their families, is clear about how that development process is going. “We are here to make sure the user requirements are being met,” he says. “If you break the contract down into detail functional requirements, then there are thousands of points that have to be addressed and eventually verified. Is that happening? Yes.”

South African input into the evolution of the Gripen as an ever more sophisticated platform has been considerable. Nearly every aspect of aircraft functionality has been tailored to meet a long list of South African Air Force (SAAF) requirements. This includes the radar, weapons, electronic warfare gear, navigation fit, communications systems, datalink, mission planning computers, even the ejection seats. South Africa has had access and input to the Gripen at every level.

As a result, all Gripens – not just the aircraft for the SAAF – have the potential to adopt and integrate improved systems, designed in South Africa. South Africa itself is leading the field in adopting sophisticated mission systems such as the helmet-mounted display, for which the SAAF is the first Gripen customer.

Quite apart from acquiring the most modern combat aircraft in service anywhere in the world today, the associated benefits for South Africa have been considerable. Under Saab’s commitment to the DIP through the Gripen contract, $808 million will flow into the South African economy by 2012. That economic co-operation is actually running ahead of schedule with some $430 million invested in South Africa already. This takes the form of both direct orders from local industry and the far-sighted skills and technology transfer programme (STTP) that is building up a wide base of new capabilities across a number of South African industries, not just defence and aerospace.

Saab’s Eva Söderström provides a few practical examples of this co-operation to date. “Saab transferred manufacturing of the Gripen “Main Landing Gear Unit” fuselage section to South Africa’s Denel, which is now an important supplier to Saab Aerostructures. The Gripens delivered to NATO air forces are already flying with essential South African supplied components. Saab Avitronics won an important order for helicopter electronic warfare equipment from Switzerland which incorporates key technology from South African-based Avitronics, now merged into the greater Saab Avitronics business. That has given a South African company which previously had limited market reach, access to lucrative new export markets while expanding Saab’s product range, enabling it to win more orders. South Africa has become Saab’s second home market, all because of Gripen and the DIP.”

There is obvious harmony between the South African team overseeing the programme and their Swedish partners. With South Africa holding a position of honour as the first export customer for Gripen, the drive within Saab and Gripen International to deliver total customer focus and commitment has been unceasing. There is great pride in what has been achieved, but also a confidence that the Gripen team can continue to meet all of its customer’s needs.

Mike Edwards sums it up saying, “Our Swedish experience has been very positive. Of course we’ve had our differences here and there but in the big picture things are going well. The programme is well-managed within Saab, everything is pretty much on schedule – which is really saying something for a project this size.”

Project Test Pilot Lt Col Charl Coetzee notes that being in place in Sweden means “you can go straight to the guys who are doing the work and talk to them. That way we always get the ‘real’ answer. Never the company version”.

Looking back to the launch of South Africa’s next-generation fighter programme, which dates to 1994, Mike Edwards has the final word. “One of the main criteria for our new aircraft was the standing of the company that supplied it. I mean this in the widest sense, because we were entering into a 30-year relationship and it had to be with a company that we trusted – and one that was going to be around for all those years to come. Saab is that company. And with the delivery of the first aircraft our relationship is really only just beginning.”