Saab has conducted the first non-US firing of Raytheon’s AIM-120C5 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missile as part of a campaign to expand the weapons fit for the Czech Republic’s Gripen C/D fighters. Conducted at Sweden’s Vidsel range in late May, the test was intended to validate the configuration of Prague’s leased aircraft, which will be cleared to deploy the missile in a fully operational software configuration by November 2006.
The Czech Republic took delivery of its first six of 12 single-seat JAS39Cs during April and will receive its remaining aircraft – plus two two-seat D-model trainers – in August 2005. Its air force will commit its first aircraft to NATO air-defence duties next month armed with Raytheon AIM-9M Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missiles, and could also participate in alliance exercises from next year, says Col Vladimir Ficenec, head of the Gripen programme for the Czech defence ministry. The service’s next seven Gripen pilots will undergo conversion training at Sweden’s Satenas airbase from August to October this year. Other weapons to be used by the leased fighters include the enhanced AIM-9L and Raytheon’s AGM-65G/H Maverick air-to-surface missile, with trials of the latter type continuing in Sweden.
Prague does not hold an option to buy the aircraft under its current lease deal with Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration, but plans to issue a tender in 2008 for a new fleet of 24 fighters. It intends to integrate the training systems for its air force Gripens and Aero Vodochody L-159 lead-in fighter trainers in 2007-8, says Ficenec.
In a possible expansion of business with the Czech Republic and Hungary, which has a lease-to-buy agreement for 14 Gripen C/Ds, new NATO nations Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania could be interested in leasing around 12 strike aircraft under government-to-government agreeements, says Gripen International managing director Johan Lehander. The Saab/BAE Systems joint venture plans to sell or lease 200 Gripens over the next 10 years, he says.
Source: Flight International
