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| Gripen-E Successfully Performs First Test Shoot with Advanced Meteor BVRAAM |
International Military - Gripen looks to have another achievement. Sweden's Saab recently conducted its first test fire with the advanced Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile (BVRAAM) on the Gripen-E. This test shoot got a successful end to end result right on target. At that time, Meteor missiles were launched from Gripen-E at an altitude of about 16500 feet above the Vidsel test range in northern Sweden.
Quoted from Military Leak, the meteor from MBDA is an unrivaled BVRAAM that can operate in the most contested environments. It can also successfully strike a variety of targets, from fighter aircraft to small unmanned aerial vehicles and cruise missiles at unmatched ranges.
Not only that, the focus of the flight test program for the Gripen-E is on further development and testing, especially tactical systems and the integration of various weapons, such as the Meteor.
“This success is a great demonstration of the close partnership between MBDA and Saab, which after years of active collaboration continues to grow from strength to strength. This trial also demonstrates our joint ability to rapidly integrate weapons capabilities into the all new Gripen-E,” said Jim Price, Vice President of MBDA Europe.
Despite its achievements, it turns out that the Gripen is one of the under-sold jets in the world. It is known, the Swedish Gripen did not get sales for the last eight years. This came to light when the President and CEO of Swedish aerospace and defense company SAAB AB Micael Johansson had told reporters of his "extreme frustration". Johansson blamed political factors and stressed that the aircraft's performance attributes were not to blame.
Quoted from Military Watch Magazine, the Gripen represents a very light fighter in a class below light standards such as the American F-16 or French Rafale. The aircraft is comparable to the Indian Tejas and the Sino-Pakistani F-16. This aircraft also uses the same American F404 engine as the Tejas.
The Gripen and its foreign counterparts had poorer flight performance than heavier designs. It is limited to carrying smaller radars and cannot carry large weapons payloads. Even so, the Gripen benefits from being cheaper, easier to maintain, and easy to store at high levels of availability.