Gripen to Get a New Tactical Support and Training System

The Saab corporation and the Swedish defense material administration signed a contract worth MSEK 500 (approximately $70 million) for the development and production of a tactical support and training system for the Gripen fighter aircraft. The system is intended to provide Gripen's crew from basic training to advanced tactical training.

The tactical support and training system is called PETRA, after Planning, Evaluation, Training, Rehearsal and Analysis, and is meant to provide planning and evaluating missions, basic training and rehearsal exercises, mission rehearsal in training and analysis of tactical scenarios. The new concept will fully fit with the mission software installed in the aircraft, eliminating software modifications, upgrades or patches to conduct combat simulation.

The software solution applied to PETRA shows up that Gripen is a real cost-effective fighting platform, according to Saab officials. The PETRA will be used by Swedish and export Gripens facilitating export orders for the aircraft, which is a major goal for the Swedish defense industry. To do so, a new training simulator for the JAS 39C/D, the most modern Gripen standard, is currently under development.

PETRA will be delivered to Sweden, Hungary and the Czech Republic, which are or are expected to be Gripen-operator countries. Deliveries are scheduled to take place between 2004 and 2007.

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