Production of second South African Gripen has begun

At the end of October, a roll-out ceremony is planned for the first South African Gripen multirole fighter, which will initially also act as the country’s own test aircraft. Production of the second fighter recently began at Saab Aerostructures, and the air channel sections are currently being assembled.

Some development work and the entire testing program still await the first fighter after it rolls out of the hangar on October 28.

Testing will take place in both Sweden and South Africa until the end of 2007, during which time Saab is responsible for the aircraft. Delivery and handover of the fighter to the South African customer are planned for March 2008. The remaining aircraft which recently began being assembled at Saab Aerostructures will also start being delivered in 2008.

South Africa’s second Gripen aircraft has just begun its journey through the assembly process, and right now the air channel sections are being put together.
“That stage should be finished by December, and the next stage will be to assemble the sections into an entire part of an air channel. The entire fuselage is expected to be finished in mid-March 2007,” says Miguel Äse, head of the South Africa program in assembly.