Aircraft

Swedish Gripens to get helmet-mounted display

By Craig Hoyle

Swedish air force Saab JAS39 Gripen fighters are to be equipped with a helmet-mounted display system including BAE Systems' Cobra helmet, under a SKr345 million ($53.3 million) contract from the nation's Defence Materiel Administration.

© Gripen International

Saab Aerosystems business unit manager Lennart Sindahl says the enhancement "further improves the Swedish Gripen fleet's already expansive operating capability," and claims: "this order is further evidence of the confidence Sweden has in Gripen." Saab is to remanufacture 31 of the air force's JAS39As to the C/D configuration under a separate six-year deal, and is also developing an enlarged Gripen demonstrator (pictured below) to support future operations of the type for the domestic customer and potential new export buyers.

© Gripen International

The newly selected helmet-mounted display system has previously been ordered for South Africa's future fleet of 28 Gripens, the first of which is scheduled to conclude in-country testing later this year ahead of its formal introduction to service in early 2008.