First Gripen for South Africa delivered

On April 30th, the South African Air Force received and accepted its first new Gripen fighter aircraft opening a new chapter in the forces modernisation and transformation.

Image: Gripen SA01 flies past the Union Buildings, Pretoria, South Africa. Photo Frans Dely/AvPix Publishing.

5/8/2008 | As part of its 1999 Strategic Defence Procurement, South Africa ordered [26] modern Gripen fighters for its front-line air defence and fighter requirement. The new multiple capability aircraft are replacing the SAAF’s fleet of Cheetah aircraft. South Africa will receive 26 Gripen new generation fighters – 9 dual-seat and 17 single-seat.

Delivery of the first Gripen follows an extensive two-year flight test programme in South Africa to integrate local avionics, defence and combat systems. Initial work was conducted in Sweden before migrating to a dedicated Gripen Flight Test Centre established at the SAAF’s Test Flight Development Centre near Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape.

An important milestone

“Delivery of the first Gripen aircraft is an important milestone in this challenging and exciting programme. South Africa was the first export customer to select Gripen. It’s recognition of Gripen’s capabilities and faith in Saab has inspired other new Gripen customers, including the Czech Republic, Hungary, the UK’s Empire Test Pilot School and more recently, Thailand.  We are also in deep discussions with several other countries, all of which are looking closely at the performance of the aircraft and Saab in South Africa,” explained Saab President and CEO, Åke Svensson.

South Africa’s first Gripen aircraft (SA01) first flew in November 2005 at Linköping, Sweden. It was transferred to South Africa in July 2006 and engaged in a South Africa-specific flight test programme which was completed in January 2008. South Africa aircraft deliveries will continue progressively from now until 2012.