Posted on 09/10/2001 6:49:00 AM PDT by oxi-nato
BUDAPEST, Sept 10 (AFP) - Hungary's national security cabinet chose Sweden's Gripen fighter aircraft over US F-16's to modernise its airfleet after joining NATO in 1999, Defense Minister Janos Szabo told a press conference Monday.
"The national security cabinet decided that the Swedish government's offer is the most advantegeous from national security and, primarily, for economic reasons," said Szabo.
So9
Just curious,
CD
Avionics and engine upgrades over the years have steadily increased the F-16's performance and kept the latest version of the aircraft state-of-the-art. Lockeed Martin Tactical Aircraft Systems already has a backlog of orders for about 350 F-16s, which cost about $25 million per copy on the export market, through the year 2000.
Still, I'm surprised given the work we've done towards Hungary's admission to NATO and the facilities we have currently in place down there.
the reason is economics where greece will have the opportunity to produce 10% of all eurofighter production.
the other is well more economics where european nations would rather keep their money in their back yard insteade of shipping it over to the u.s.
the u.s. domination in weapons sales will never be overtaken but the competition from around the world will take more of the share away from the u.s.
The point is that Swedish Volvo makes engines under Genderal Electric license and US can stop this deal any time.
Article includes some pun on Gringo tech along the tune of Johnny Cash's "It's a '60, '61, '62, '63, '64, '65, '66, '67
'68, '69, '70 automobile.
To my understanding, if F-16's were ordered today, they would be delivered no earlier than 2008. Technology older than the pilots flying it.
Anyone from Sweden to comment?
Yeah. The Gripen ("Griffin") is using a modified General Electric engine, and there are possible more parts done by or with the cooperation of GE. As it would be less than cost efficient to re-invent the wheel, quite a few parts of the aircraft are "imported". Other American parterns include Lockheed Martin, Sundstrand, Honeywell, Kaiser, and Rockwell. BAe (British Aerospace) is also involved, mostly because of their global sales organization and the NATO conversion needed for NATO and NATO-wannabe customers.
Still, I'm surprised given the work we've done towards Hungary's admission to NATO and the facilities we have currently in place down there.
Nothing beats economics. The Hungarians simply concluded that the Gripen would be more cost-effective than the F-16. One of the major problems has been armament since some of the missiles used by the Swedish Airforce are American makes (AMRAAM, Sidewinder, Maverick). However, since the European missile projects (such as IRIS-T and METEOR) will pretty much void the need of these missiles, the American say on where Saab/BAe can sell their aircraft will be reduced. A positive side effect (for Saab/BAe) of this is that the US is giving an opening on the American missiles for prospective customers. After all, selling missiles is better than not selling anything at all.
I'm already commenting :)
The point is that Swedish Volvo makes engines under Genderal Electric license and US can stop this deal any time.
Word is that Saab already have conversion plans for other engines. Since more parts are made by American companies, things get a bit complicated. I don't really know if the sale of those are subject to any US "veto". Anyway, I can't see the US being such a sore loser over an export contract to Hungary. I'd be quite different if Saab/BAe tried to sell Gripen to Iraq.
Technology older than the pilots flying it.
True and false. It really depends on what batch and type of F-16 we're talking about. Batch 60 (I think) is quite up-to-date and is very much a capable rival to newer aircraft. Somewhere there's a limit to these upgrades though, and with an older airframe like the F-16 you'll most likely find it closer up in time than the Gripen.
Swedish supply makes perfect sense, look to see more of the same.
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