A Jerusalem Post article yesterday claims the US government denied Israel Aircraft Industries the chance to offer an Elta Systems radar for the Saab Gripen proposal to India.
The claims have already been picked up by the Times of India, which has branded the US actions as "arm-twisting". The Israeli claims have a familiar ring. The US also denied Israel the chance to export airborne early warning radar technology to China and recently blocked Israel from supplying technology for a main battle tank to Turkey.
But the Jerusalem Post article lacks a very important detail. Saab has already teamed with Italy's Selex to offer a Gripen NG equipped with active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to India and Brazil. It is not clear from the Jerusalem Post report when or even if Saab had offered IAI an opportunity to propose a different radar to India.
It is also worth noting that Saab chose the Selex radar despiteoperating initially selecting a Thales radar on its Gripen NG demonstrator. It is widely believed that the French government blocked Thales from competing with the Dassault Rafale in both India and Brazil.
READ FLIGHT'S NEWS ARTICLE HERE
The claims have already been picked up by the Times of India, which has branded the US actions as "arm-twisting". The Israeli claims have a familiar ring. The US also denied Israel the chance to export airborne early warning radar technology to China and recently blocked Israel from supplying technology for a main battle tank to Turkey.
But the Jerusalem Post article lacks a very important detail. Saab has already teamed with Italy's Selex to offer a Gripen NG equipped with active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar to India and Brazil. It is not clear from the Jerusalem Post report when or even if Saab had offered IAI an opportunity to propose a different radar to India.
It is also worth noting that Saab chose the Selex radar despite
READ FLIGHT'S NEWS ARTICLE HERE
on July 6, 2009 2:39 PM | Reply
Steve,
From what I'm aware of, Thales completely moved out the Gripen Demo program. The demonstrator aircraft will therefore not fly with the french active array, as originally planned, but with the Selex system.
on July 6, 2009 2:44 PM | Reply
Thanks, Guillame. I forgot about that.
on July 6, 2009 4:37 PM | Reply
Smells like pure spin...
No offense for the JPost, but this special flavour of precise but unverified information mixed with potential strategic snag reminds me of plain and simple propaganda.
What is Wizzard Stephen thinking about this?
on July 6, 2009 11:23 PM | Reply
Three possibilities:
1. IAI wanted to sell the radar, and the Pentagon said "no f%$#ing way.
2. IAI wanted to be a part of the EW package for the Gripen NG, and the Pentagon said "no f%$#ing way.
3. This is the worst defense marketing gimmick out of the Israelis since that "Bollywood" video.
I think that 1 is unlikely, Saab already has a deal with Selex, though they might have been in informal talks with them as an alternate, just in case they run into delays from them.
3 is possible, but it's a bit bent, even for a marketing drone....Too much double reverse psychology stuff.
2 is the most likely to my mind, particularly since the Israelis are renown for their electronic attack capabilities.