Micael Johansson, the CEO of Swedish company Saab, confirmed to Swedish media that Portugal and Canada are studying whether to buy the JAS 39 Gripen E/F fighter jet.
Micael Johansson, the CEO of Swedish company Saab, confirmed to Swedish media that Portugal and Canada are studying whether to buy the JAS 39 Gripen E/F fighter jet.
Sure, it reduces losses and gives much more tactical advantage.
It isn’t just software. Even the pilot’s helmet in the F-35 is highly specialized and has integrated HUD:
Why can’t the helmet be used in the Gripen?
The Gripen doesn’t have the systems (hardware or software) to run it. The F-35 was designed from the ground up to use this.
SAAB have a basic version but there’s less info about it and it’s certainly less advanced. https://www.saab.com/newsroom/press-releases/2016/saab-receives-order-from-fmv-for-a-new-helmet-mounted-display-system
The planes are designed to carry several tons of bombs. For sure there must be some space to store some CPUs and memory.
If the helmet is such a key feature then it’s worth developing a European version. The good thing about a helmet is that it’s easy to replace, unlike other parts of the plane. So the Gripen can be bought right now, and then suppliers can deliver helmets. Have an open market for them with a public specification of the interfaces and thus a thriving European helmet industry.
I must not be explaining this very well if that’s your takeaway.
Well, I don’t understand how a helmet can be so tightly coupled to a plane. There could be less cameras or less radar systems, but that can’t limit the helmet to show whatever the sensors track.
Of course it could limit the helmet somehow, but that’s what I want to understand.
One example I should have mentioned earlier is that the F-35 has cameras outside the plane so that the helmet HUD allows the pilot to look “through” the fuselage. It does much more than simply show sensor readings inside the visor.
Ok, and that’s difficult to replicate on the Gripen?
With all the 3D gaming technology I cannot imagine that creating a 3D scene inside a helmet is so difficult that it’s worth buying this superexpensive plane instead of paying mabe the price of one plane for 3 companies to develop helmets for a Gripen with some additional cameras.
The plane only has to be better than European opponents, which hopefully doesn’t require being better than the F35.
The entire plane has to be redesigned from the ground up, that’s what he’s explaining. The F-35s are caked in sensors like a valve index. They have special paints and materials that absorb radar, making the radar profile look more like a bird than aircraft-sized hunk of metal, which is useful against Russian and Iranian anti air SAMs, the same ones taking down Ukrainian jets. But that also includes the body shape, the engine intakes (even engine blade materials), everything.
Can the Europeans create an F-35 class platform? Absolutely. But you can’t just retrofit your way out of a brand new generation of plane. It’s like trying to retrofit a Ford F-350 super duty to conform to Japanese Kei truck regulations and weight classes. You end up redesigning the whole thing.