By Vincent J. Curtis
At the Aero Montreal Innovation Forum 2020 conference, Saab AB revealed part of its proposal for Canada’s Future Fighter Capability Project. Saab’s proposal will include the creation of two new innovation centres to be located somewhere in the greater Montreal area.
One center will be called the Gripen Center, while the second will be named the Aerospace Research and Development Center. The proposed Gripen Center will be devoted to the support, sustainment, and upgrade management of the 88 Gripen E fighter aircraft that Saab hopes to sell to Canada to replace the aging CF-18 Hornets. The work of the Aerospace R&D Center will be directed towards the development, testing, and production of Next Generation (NG) aerospace systems and components that may include: UAV’s, artificial intelligence (AI), and “environmentally friendly aviation technologies.”
Several thousand long term jobs in high technology were promised in SAAB’s proposal.
For this project, Saab will partner with CAE, Peraton, GE, and IMP Aerospace and Defence.
In making the announcement, Saab President and CEO Micael Johansson, noted that Saab has been invested in Canada for nearly thirty years, and those three decades of cooperation includes such projects as the combat management system for the Halifax-class frigates of the Royal Canadian Navy. Johansson also pledged that the future fleet of Canadian Gripen E fighters would be “built, supported, sustained, enhanced, and upgraded in Canada by Canadians.”
Johansson described Saab as a Defence and Security company which focusses on innovated affordable military capability. With security threats growing rapidly around the world, Saab commits twenty-five percent of its annual revenue to R&D.
Saab was tight-lipped about much of the rest of their overall Future Fighter proposal to the Canadian government. They did not specify exactly where in the Montreal area the closely related innovation centers would be located. Saab was also not willing to reveal the estimated cost of their fighter jet replacement proposal, (neither the per-unit cost nor the overall project cost). If acquired by Canada, the Gripens would be assembled by IMP Aerospace and Defence at their facility near Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Open sources indicate that the Gripen E would be powered by the same GE F414G engine that motivates the Super Hornet.
While several hundred Gripens have been produced since the JAS-39 was introduced in 1993, Saab admitted that fewer than ten of the E model have actually been produced anywhere in the world. The Saab plant in Brazil began building Gripen E and double seat F models in the summer of 2020. They are to build 36 Gripens for the Brazilian Airforce.
Indicating that it well knows the politics of Canadian defence procurement, Saab is offering lucrative incentives for the Montreal, Quebec based aviation sector should Saab be selected to supply the 88 replacement fighters for the CF-18 fleet.
