Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab announced on Tuesday that it has successfully conducted the trial which marked the first time an exterior 3D-printed part has been flown on a Gripen aircraft, rather than internal 3D-printed components. As noted by the company, the purpose of the trial was to test how additive manufacturing could be used in battlefield damage repair. The test flight took place in the skies above Saab’s facilities in Linköping, Sweden, on Friday 19th March. Gripen was fitted with a replacement hatch that had been 3D-printed using additive manufacturing, using a nylon polymer called PA2200. This work is […]
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HELSINKI – The Finnish government’s budget proposal for 2021 has allayed concerns of delays or reduced funding for the Armed Forces’ (FAF) HX Fighter Program. The plan will effectively increase the military’s budgetary framework in 2021 by $2 billion to $5.8 billion to meet phase one of the project’s procurement costs. The economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has forced Finland to significantly increase international borrowings and further load national debt, was feared to have a negative bearing of the fighter replacement project, particularly against the backdrop of a potential economic recession and grim forecasts of an 8 to 10 […]
WASHINGTON — The bids are in for Canada’s fighter competition, and three companies will go head-to-head for the chance to build 88 new jets. The Canadian government on Friday confirmed that the field is down two to American entrants — Lockheed Martin’s F-35 joint strike fighter and Boeing’s F/A-18E/F Super Hornet — as well as Swedish aerospace manufacturer Saab’s Gripen E. All companies have submitted proposals before the July 31 deadline. The contest is scheduled to be decided in 2022, with the first aircraft delivery projected in 2025. Up to $19 billion CAD, or about $14 billion in U.S. dollars, is […]
LONDON – A raft of top systems suppliers have been recruited to join the team leading Britain’s development of the Tempest next-generation fighter aircraft. Bombardier in Northern Ireland, GKN, Martin Baker and Qinetiq, alongside the UK arms of Collins Aerospace, GE Aviation and Thales, have signed up to collaborate with the BAE Systems-led team working on the future air combat system, it was announced July 20 on what should have been the opening day of the Farnborough air show before Covid-19 caused the event’s cancellation. At the same time as the announcement, Sweden’s Saab revealed it was setting up a UK hub to potentially participate in future combat air systems work between the two nations. It’s been almost two years to the day when the […]
WASHINGTON — Brazil has officially begun manufacturing fighter jets with the start of production at a new facility that makes sections of the Saab Gripen, Swedish aerospace company Saab announced Tuesday. Saab Aeronáutica Montagens, a new manufacturing plant located near Sao Paulo, has begun producing Gripen E/F aerostructures, including the tail cone and front fuselage for the single-seat Gripen E version of the jet. It will eventually also make the brakes, rear fuselage, wing box and front fuselage for the two-seater “F” model, Saab stated. Those structures will then undergo final assembly at Embraer’s nearby plant in Sao Paulo and Saab’s […]