It's a Strange New NATO and It Will Make or Break the Gripen

Things are moving fast right now for the Gripen team. Flygvapnet (the Swedish Air Force) is already halfway through fielding its 204-strong force of the next-generation multi-role fighter. While other advanced combat aircraft programs continue to fret about their very existence, Saab delivered its 100th Gripen to the FMV (Sweden's Defence Material Administration) on March 12. Though the Swedish defence budget has been harshly, and repeatedly, cut back over recent times -- the latest cuts will see the survival of just four active Flygvapnet bases -- the planned Gripen purchase remains firm.

Away from Sweden, the coming weeks and months will see several key decisions in crucial export markets. The joint-venture export team of Saab-BAE Systems Gripen is immersed in three hard-fought competitions in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. The "on-again, off-again" Eastern European sales drives are now drawing to a conclusion, though the campaigns have proved to be complicated-and often contradictory-affairs.

The Czech Republic, for example, issued an RFP on December 27 for between 24 and 36 new-build combat aircraft, stipulating 150% offsets to include 20% direct aerospace/defence industry work for Czech firms. The Czech RFP deadline was May 31, with a final decision due by the end of September. But the purchasing authorities demanded that all submissions be costed entirely in Czech currency, and written entirely in the Czech language. This led to the withdrawal from the competition of all the entrants-Lockheed Martin, Dassault, EADS and Boeing-except Saab-BAE Systems.

"We are quite confident that we will be selected as the single-source supplier," a Gripen team spokesman told Show News. Questions remain over how the Czech Republic can afford to fund its fighter purchase, which has been valued at up to $2.6 billion (CKr 100 billion). Saab-BAE Systems believes the program will be funded by special budgetary provisions, supported by finance packages from industry.

In Poland the selection process for its next-generation fighter has been described as "surreal," with British, French and Swedish ambassadors expressing "incredulity" at a recent bidders conference. Following an RFP deadline of May 30 (bidders had just six weeks to submit their tenders) Poland intends to undertake a four-day bid assessment, evaluating the technical and financing aspects of each bid before disclosing a final decision just a few weeks later, before the end of June.

"The F-16 has been pre-selected and the decision has been timed to tie in with U.S. political visits to Poland," complains one European program official. "Now they are just putting on the appearance of a competition, and even the Americans are a bit embarrassed by it." Poland is seeking a transitional five-year loan of 16 aircraft followed by the purchase of between 44 and 60 new build aircraft.

On February 9 the Swedish Ambassador to Hungary offered the Hungarian Air Force the loan of up to 24 ex-Flygvapnet Gripens in rapid response to a similar U.S. offer of early-model F-16A/Bs that was made outside the terms of an original RFI response for the longer-term purchase of new fighter aircraft submitted in December 2000. "Another political attempt was made to shoe-horn in the F-16, and some stern complaints re-opened the competition," said one Saab-BAE Systems official. "Now it has all become something of a hot potato and we think nothing will happen for a year or so."

In Austria, where the Gripen is the front-runner to replace the air force's aging Saab Drakens, Saab-BAE Systems Gripen expects an RFP to be issued in June, following on from last year's RFI. Austria has a requirement for up to 24 aircraft. The Gripen team is offering a combined training and equipment deal.