Five curiosities about the Brazilian Gripen
Selected through the FX-2 Programme, the bid process to re-equip the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) with new fighters, the Brazilian Gripen Programme has many stories to tell and curiosities to share.
For starters, we have selected five curiosities:
- Since August 26, 2019, the Brazilian Gripen has been undergoing a series of flights tests in Linköping, Sweden, where it will stay until the second half of 2020, after which it will come to Brazil to continue its flight test campaign.
- The Gripen was designed to be flexible and requires a small logistic footprint. It needs a runway of only 500m to take off and 600m to land.
- The time required to change the Gripen's configurations also is minimal! The fighter needs only ten minutes to configure for air-to-air missions, including refuelling and reloading of armament.
- The Brazilian Gripen Programme includes over 60 offset projects (i.e. offsets of industrial, technological and commercial nature) to improve the autonomy of the Brazilian Air Force and of the country's aeronautical industry, through the acquisition of the know-how in defence intelligence and independence in the fighter's maintenance.
- Since November 2016, the Gripen Design and Development Network (GDDN) has been operating at the plant of Embraer, located in Gavião Peixoto, São Paulo. The GDDN is Gripen's technological development hub in Brazil, and currently operates with some 190 Brazilian engineers and 20 Swedish engineers.
Are you enjoying these curiosities? Read more about the Brazilian Gripen from here.