How can the SCAF program appeal to Sweden?
Sweden is today the object of all the desires of the two European programs for new generation combat aircraft, SCAF and GCAP. However, far from being easily seduced, Stockholm has entrusted Saab with carrying out a study, which should enable it to arbitrate between these two programs, or even in favor of autonomous development, as was the case for the JAS 39 Gripen.
Obviously, the Swedish authorities are giving themselves time to reflect, to best preserve its industrial skills and defensive capabilities in this matter.
How, under these conditions, could the SCAF program anticipate these Swedish expectations, to ensure the participation of Stockholm and Saab in this strategic European program?
In this section:
Stockholm entrusts Saab with the preliminary study of its future combat aircraft
On March 22, the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab was notified by the Swedish Defense Equipment Administration, or FMV, of a contract relating to the preliminary and conceptual study of the future Flygvapnet air combat system, the Swedish Air Force.
This study, which is scheduled to last until 2025, will be carried out in close coordination with the FMV, the Swedish Air Force, the Defense Research Agency, as well as other industrial partners.
It should give Stockholm a clear vision of the technological, operational and budgetary issues, all those linked to the design of an air combat system intended to be effective in the decades to come, this including the design of the aircraft. combat, drones, combat systems, and the entire system of systems.
Sweden wants to preserve its fighter jet design skills
Fundamentally, the Swedish authorities, who know they are being courted by both the SCAF program (Germany, Spain, France and Belgium), and the GCAP program (Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom), want to have a transversal and objective vision. , to simultaneously meet its future needs and support its industrial skills.
It is true that, in this area, as in that of submarines, Sweden has a unique status on the world market. With only 10,5 million inhabitants, and a GDP of less than 650 billion euros, it is, by far, the smallest country with the experience, otherwise very successful, of the design of modern fighters, with the Gripen family.
There are 75% of this article left to read, Subscribe to access it!
The Classic subscriptions provide access to
articles in their full version, and without advertising,
from €1,99. Subscriptions Premium also allow access to archives (articles over two years old)
Christmas promotion : 15% discount on Premium and Classic subscriptions annual with the code MetaXmas2024, from 11/12 to 27/12 only.
Copyright : Reproduction, even partial, of this article is prohibited, apart from the title and the parts of the article written in italics, except within the framework of copyright protection agreements entrusted to the CFC, and unless expressly agreed by Meta-defense.fr. Meta-defense.fr reserves the right to use all options at its disposal to assert its rights.
Bonjour.
Given the political and industrial difficulties in implementing the SCAF program for phases 1 and 2, I would not be surprised if the people at Dassault and their charismatic CEO have not already considered the possibility of developing a less expensive and therefore rally partners such as Sweden or India (but here I am fantasizing a little….) among others.
Politicians could indeed draw inspiration from the analyzes and articles on this site. Too bad Mr Lecornu is leaving the defense. For once we had a pretty good one that did the job.
A very good idea is the possibility of developing a simpler, less expensive, single-engine aircraft which would allow both Sweden and France to retain all of the hard-earned skills in the field of combat aviation.
Let's hope that the political figures reading these fascinating articles will know how to promote them!