If SAAB wins Brazilian fighter order, its chances may improve in the Indian MMRCA tender

The Brazilian MoD may be falling shy of announcing a winner in its fighter aircraft competition but there are indications that the Swedish manufacturer SAAB may have emerged as the winner in the technical evaluation which was officially acknowledged as completed by the Brazilian Air Force command. SAAB Gripen, Boeing F-18 and Dassault Rafale are the three contenders in the race to equip Brazil’s Air Force with modern fighters. A leading Brazilian newspaper reported that the Swedish fighter had won the competition which was promptly denied by the Brazilian Air Force Command which issued a clarification that the technical evaluation report had been completed and forwarded to the government. From the newspaper’s report it appears that SAAB Gripen is ahead of the others in the technical evaluation process. A very credible indication that the Gripen fighter may have won the technical evaluation has emerged in the form of SELEX Galileo announcing the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with ATMOS Sistemas (ATMOS) Ltda of Brazil to develop the Raven ES-05 AESA fire control radar for the Saab Gripen NG, which the AESA radar of choice the Gripen. A press release from AMOS said, “parties are already working to define the best collaboration route forward, in line with the Brazilian Government requirements and budgets and operational aspirations of the Brazilian MoD. The MoU will include technology transfer, work share and cooperative development. Leveraging on the joint work done by SELEX Galileo and Saab on Raven ES-05 for Gripen NG, the MoU opens now a real opportunity for SELEX Galileo/ATMOS cooperative development of future capabilities of the radar such as new air to air/ground modes and miniature receivers. Having an electronically scanned array AESA radar is considered crucial to a modern fighter aircraft. If SAAB has indeed won the technical evaluation and is invited for final price and technology transfer negotiations with the Brazilian government, it all but means it its just a step away from signing the contract and walking away with the cheque. Winning the Brazilian tender may bring unexpected benefits to SAAB in the form of improving its chances for the $6 billion Indian fighter aircraft replacement program. The Indian RFP specifically mentions an AESA radar which is deployed by the contending aircraft. SAAB Gripen does not as yet have a deployed AESA radar and with the SELEX/ATMOS deal to produce the radar for Brazil, SAAB can quickly claim that it has a deployed radar within the next one or two years, around the time the Indian competition is headed for a completion of its technical evaluation of the five contenders, Lockheed Martin F-16, Gripen, Eurofighter, MiG-35 and Boeing F/A-18.