Rear view of JAS 39 Swedish Gripen Fighter Jet No 284 on 05 at RAF Lossiemouth, Scotland. SCO 9311.
The Gripen is a multirole fighter aircraft, intended to be a lightweight and agile aerial platform incorporating advanced, highly-adaptable avionics. It has canard control surfaces which contributes a positive lift force at all speeds, while the generous lift from the delta wing compensates for the rear stabilizer producing negative lift at high speeds, increasing induced drag. Being intentionally instable and employing digital fly-by-wire flight controls to maintain stability removes many flight restrictions, improves manoeuvrability, and reduces drag. The Gripen also has good short takeoff performance, being able to maintain a high sink rate and strengthened to withstand the stresses of short landings. A pair of air brakes are located on the sides of the rear fuselage; the canards also angle downward to act as air brakes and decrease landing distance. It is capable of flying at a 70-80 degrees angle of attack. In order to enable the Gripen to have a long service life, projected to be roughly 50 years, the aircraft was designed to have low maintenance requirements; major systems such as the RM12 engine and PS-05/A radar are of a modular construction to reduce operating cost and increase reliability. The Gripen was designed to be flexible as it had been anticipated that newly developed sensors, computers, and armaments would need to be integrated as technology advances. The aircraft was estimated to be roughly 67% sourced from Swedish or European suppliers and 33% from the United States. One key aspect of the Gripen program that Saab have been keen to emphasize has been technology-transfer agreements and industrial partnerships with export customers. The Gripen is typically customized to customer requirements, enabling the routine inclusion of local suppliers in the manufacturing and support processes. A number of South African firms provide components and systems – including the communications suite and electronic warfare systems for the SAAF Gripens
Size: 5688px × 4304px
Location: RAF Lossiemouth, Moray. Grampian Region. Scotland. United Kingdom.
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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