{"id":67472,"date":"2024-05-06T08:17:45","date_gmt":"2024-05-06T08:17:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/uncategorized\/2024\/05\/06\/sweden-goes-back-to-the-drawing-board-for-a-next-gen-warplane\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T01:08:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T01:08:21","slug":"sweden-goes-back-to-the-drawing-board-for-a-next-gen-warplane","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/global\/europe\/2024\/05\/06\/sweden-goes-back-to-the-drawing-board-for-a-next-gen-warplane\/","title":{"rendered":"Sweden goes back to the drawing board for a next-gen warplane"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

MILAN \u2014 Amid a rush within NATO to rally around next-generation combat aircraft, new alliance member Sweden is taking a pause to assess what\u2019s next for its lineage as a warplane-producing country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Nordic state in 2022 suspended its flirtation with one of Europe\u2019s two marquee airpower efforts, the Global Combat Air Programme, an initiative led by the U.K., Italy and Japan that seeks to deliver a sixth-generation fighter capability by 2035.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fast forward to today, and Sweden\u2019s industrial champion Saab is freshly under contract with the Ministry of Defense\u2019s equipment branch, dubbed FMV, to conduct \u201cconceptual studies\u201d on future fighter systems \u2014 military jargon for starting at square one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saab has managed to secure a share of the global warplane market with the Gripen<\/a> family of aircraft. The decades-long work has spawned an industrial ecosystem in aerospace engineering that political leaders hope to bring to bear in the NATO alliance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next-generation air power concepts on both sides of the Atlantic envision a move away from traditional fighter jets steered by humans as the central pillar of future air forces. Instead, nations are fine-tuning ideas for a networked hodgepodge of flying objects at various altitudes that can be synchronized at the push of a button to overwhelm enemy forces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A key factor in those considerations is forging a multinational industrial base that can make it happen. For Europeans, that means consolidating workshare around critical aviation technologies while trying to preserve enough national know-how as a hedge against crises to come, an issue certain to be on the minds of decision-makers in Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt has been a successful story so far [for Sweden\u2019s jet-manufacturing chain] and we are looking forward to the future,\u201d Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, chief of the Swedish Air Force, told Defense News. He referred to the newly contracted warplane studies as a \u201cjourney to figure out what the next steps are for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat the concept studies are allowing us to do is to have the freedom to decide what suits us best and the freedom to invest in capabilities that make sense to us,\u201d Wikman said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yet another program?<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Sweden\u2019s decision to take a pause to determine its own requirements has brought about a guessing game across the defense industry regarding what the country\u2019s next move might be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Will Stockholm try to rejoin GCAP through Saab in the future? Could it team up with the rival program, the Future Combat Air System led by France, Germany and Spain? Or will it opt to build and develop its own fighter with other partners? Might it simply acquire an existing fighter when the time comes?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNothing has been decided yet and won\u2019t be decided until at the very least the beginning of the next decade,\u201d Wikman said. \u201cNo matter the direction we opt to go in, Swedish industry will always be involved.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the mix of options, the emergence of yet another fighter program in Europe is unlikely because of the enormous investment involved, Douglas Barrie, a senior fellow for military aerospace at the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies, told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSaab and the FMV are looking at all possible options, but I wouldn\u2019t put the emergence of a third European crewed combat aircraft project particularly high in terms of outcomes,\u201d he said. Instead, Stockholm could seek to tack onto a collaboration in an effort to spread the research and development costs, he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Affordability is a major challenge to programs like FCAS and GCAP, with high-tech ambitions driving the life-cycle costs into the tens of billions of dollars or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put the amounts required into perspective, as of last year, the U.K. pledged to spend around $2.5 billion on GCAP\u2019s initial research and observation stage alone, an amount equivalent to roughly one-fourth of Sweden\u2019s planned 2024 defense budget.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whichever path leaders in Stockholm decide to take, there is such a thing as a uniquely Swedish approach to combat airplanes that officials will likely want to retain, according to Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow at the London-based RUSI think tank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSweden is likely to stick to its traditional areas of design and technology strength in the combat air design space during any next-gen program,\u201d he said. Its features include \u201cdesigning comparatively small, and therefore, efficient aerodynamic airframes; electronic warfare suites; rapid software iteration; and ease of maintenance.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gripen DNA<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Considering the Gripen fighter will be the backbone of the Swedish Air Force for decades to come, with plans to operate the latest variant, the Gripen E, until 2060, some of its design tenets are expected to bleed into any future Swedish fighter ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe easy upgradability, robustness allowing for disperse operations from highways, and flight hour costs \u2013 these are all characteristics that are a great foundation for a starting point when looking into the next fighter system,\u201d Peter Nilsson, head of Saab\u2019s business unit for advanced programs, told Defense News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sweden\u2019s national emergency plans dictate fighter aircraft must be able to use roads as makeshift runways in the event of a crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a media briefing during the Singapore Airshow in February, Saab\u2019s chief marketing officer, Mikael Franz\u00e9n, said due to the current threat level in Sweden, the country would operate the Gripen C\/D variant for longer than anticipated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe C\/D versions are to be retired between 2035 and 2040, or beyond, so that the Air Force does not have a dip in readiness and retains full capability during this re-armament period,\u201d Franz\u00e9n told reporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are now more than 21 operational Gripen E models globally, including test models, and 35 aircraft in production, according to the company.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Franz\u00e9n also said the Swedish company had improved every system in older C\/D models under the Gripen E program, including an upgraded electronic warfare suite and the ability to carry three times more armaments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When it comes to a future fighter system, Sweden does not plan to go it alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have a long heritage of international collaboration and will continue working in that way \u2014 the Gripen is truly an international fighter, but built in Sweden,\u201d said Saab\u2019s Nilsson. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue working with partners from other countries.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, the studies under contract with the defense ministry are meant to illuminate the trade space in which Swedish leaders will make decisions later on. Focus areas include technology analysis, partnership opportunities, logistics and industrial implications, as well as digital and physical testing of capabilities, according Nilsson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some high-tech areas of interest Saab plans to explore are a mix \u201cbetween manned and unmanned systems as well as disruptive technologies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A unique aspect of Saab\u2019s vision of fighter jets is the company\u2019s specialization on counter-stealth technology<\/a>, which is the discipline of detecting aerial objects designed to be concealed from radar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At an air warfare conference organized in March by the RUSI think tank, Jonas Gr\u00f6nberg, Saab\u2019s director of strategy for fighter aircraft, said that given the fast-paced development of software and hardware systems for signals processing, stealth fighters are bound to increasingly be more discoverable by radars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome military trends we\u2019re seeing influence electronic warfare are radar threats regaining importance and the re-emergence of surveillance radars at low-frequency bands,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some older radars function at much lower frequency ranges, which means their wavelengths are considerably longer and capable of effectively spotting most stealth aircraft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An unmanned companion<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Sweden, like other countries, is considering the addition of a drone to accompany Gripen fighters even before plans for a next-gen fighter are hatched. The idea is conceptually known among air forces as \u201cloyal wingman,\u201d a reference to an unmanned helper which pilots can task mid-flight to attack targets, collect intelligence or act as a decoy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2022, Saab\u2019s concept for a supersonic loyal wingman broke cover as part of an academic paper presented by a company employee at the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences in Stockholm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While little is known regarding the status of the technology today, the document states it was initially developed under Saab\u2019s participation in the U.K.-led program now known as GCAP. The wingman was designed for combat with a low radar signature profile, to fly at high speeds and to conduct long-range air-to-air battles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saab, for its part, is readying its workforce for the pivotal next-gen study. For one, the company has equipped the unit tasked with the project to have \u201cfull fighter system capability,\u201d and hiring is underway to beef up the engineer ranks, Nilsson said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the global push to reimagine air power, Stockholm is taking a breather to figure out its 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