2024-03-23 12:57:20
In November, Sweden confirmed that it would not participate in the Global Combat Air Program. [GCAP], to which she had been admitted as an observer. More precisely, it signed a memorandum of understanding with the United Kingdom in 2019, the objective then being to examine “joint development possibilities” in combat aviation.
At the time, London was seeking to bring together partners around its sixth-generation “Tempest” combat aircraft program, unveiled a year earlier. Since then, this project has been joined by Italy and Japan. The Swedish decision is undoubtedly linked to industrial issues. “Our involvement was not as intense as we thought at the beginning,” declared Micael Johansson, CEO of Saab, in August 2022.
After renouncing GCAP, could Sweden join SCAF [Système de combat aérien du futur], a program carried out in collaboration by France, Germany and Spain? This hypothesis could have been put forward… without being supported by the slightest concrete element. And for good reason: Stockholm clearly intends to go it alone.
While Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury recently pleaded in favor of a merger of the SCAF and GCAP programs in order to “not repeat the mistakes of the past” when “resources were distributed between three competing aircraft” [Rafale, Gripen, Eurofighter]the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration [FMV] has just awarded contracts to Saab and British equipment manufacturer GKN Aerospace to carry out “conceptual” studies with a view to developing a new combat aircraft.
“The objective is to provide a basis for a decision on the future of combat aviation after 2040,” said the FMV, via a statement broadcast on March 22. For its part, Saab specified that it will conduct “conceptual studies of piloted and unpiloted solutions from a system of systems perspective”.
In this area, Sweden is not starting from a blank sheet: in addition to the experience acquired with the JAS-39 Gripen, Saab participated in the nEUROn combat drone program, designed under the supervision of Dassault Aviation. No doubt this will make it possible to establish a bridge with the SCAF, if Stockholm decides to launch its own 6th generation combat aircraft project.
“Saab is in a strong position and, having recently developed the Gripen E and GlobalEye, we have the cutting-edge technology and engineering know-how needed to advance the concept of the future combat aircraft,” also argued Lars Tossman, director of the aeronautical branch of the Swedish group.
Additionally, Saab intends to develop partnerships around “emerging and disruptive technologies that will play an important role in future combat aircraft systems.” To do this, it intends to rely on the “Swedish government’s Defense Innovation Initiative” as well as the “NATO Defense Innovation Accelerator”.
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