DRDO Chief Takes A Spin In A Gripen

[arp2041]

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Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, chief of India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) took a spin in the backseat of a Saab Gripen-D on May 31 at Linköping, Sweden. Saraswat was in Sweden to attend Aerospace Forum Sweden, a seminar where he made a detailed presentation on India's unmanned programmes.

The Gripen was, until early last year, a contender in India's $12-billion medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition. It was one of the four aircraft that were eliminated from the reckoning in the competition's first downselect. A week before his sortie, India's air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Norman Browne, did a sortie in a Rafale (the aircraft that emerged on top in the competition, and for which a final contract is currently being negotiated with maker Dassault) at the Saint-Dizier air force base in France.

The DRDO chief's sortie has less to do with the MMRCA competition and more, perhaps, to do with Saab's own interest in engaging with the DRDO in a variety of programmes, presumably the Tejas Mk.2, unmanned air vehicles (including UCAVs) and others.

Somehow, considering where the indigenous fighter programme is right now, it might have been a more impactful photo-op if Dr Saraswat had chosen to make his fighter debut in the Tejas Mk.1 trainer. The Gripen and Tejas are variously compared too. Who knows, maybe he'll do it now.

Incidentally, I did a sortie in a Gripen-D too (likely the very same aircraft) in October 2009, with Saab test pilot Robin Nordlander.

Stratpost editor Saurabh Joshi was at the flightline during the DRDO chief's flight and took these photos he's been kind enough to share with me.

Livefist: DRDO Chief Takes A Spin In A Gripen

[Abingdonboy]

God dammit Shiv! You can't keep your biased and nonsensical comments to yourself? Report the news- don't be the news!! Every f***ing time!!

[arp2041]

God dammit Shiv! You can't keep your biased and nonsensical comments to yourself? Report the news- don't be the news!! Every f***ing time!!

the bold part, i agree with him 100%, rest is he all bragging about himself.

[SpArK]

God dammit Shiv! You can't keep your biased and nonsensical comments to yourself? Report the news- don't be the news!! Every f***ing time!!

Its his blog, not a newspaper article.

[Oscar]

Just as a thought..
would it be a bad idea for HAL to purchase one or two older Gripens and use them to lay the foundations of a test pilot training program.. eventually adding a Tejas to it.

[Abingdonboy]

Just as a thought..
would it be a bad idea for HAL to purchase one or two older Gripens and use them to lay the foundations of a test pilot training program.. eventually adding a Tejas to it.

India already has one of the five test pilot training schools in the world- the ASTE which trains both IAF and IN test pilots. Pilots from ASTE are the ones who have evaluated and tested every new domestic platform and every potential foreign a/c to be sed bu ndia for the fast few decades including the LCA program. India doesn't need any help from outsiders in this regard.

Its his blog, not a newspaper article.

I'm aware of this but his style is far too self involved and the blog is a self styled defence blog YT he spends most of the time reporting on himself!

[sancho]

Just as a thought..
would it be a bad idea for HAL to purchase one or two older Gripens and use them to lay the foundations of a test pilot training program.. eventually adding a Tejas to it.

We already have twin seat version of LCA available, so training wouldn't be an issue. Also I guess Mirage 2000s would be better to train LCA pilots, because the delta canards design of Gripen is pretty different to LCA.

[Nishan_101]

Dr Vijay Kumar Saraswat, chief of India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO) took a spin in the backseat of a Saab Gripen-D on May 31 at Linköping, Sweden. Saraswat was in Sweden to attend Aerospace Forum Sweden, a seminar where he made a detailed presentation on India's unmanned programmes.

The Gripen was, until early last year, a contender in India's $12-billion medium multirole combat aircraft (MMRCA) competition. It was one of the four aircraft that were eliminated from the reckoning in the competition's first downselect. A week before his sortie, India's air force chief, Air Chief Marshal Norman Browne, did a sortie in a Rafale (the aircraft that emerged on top in the competition, and for which a final contract is currently being negotiated with maker Dassault) at the Saint-Dizier air force base in France.

The DRDO chief's sortie has less to do with the MMRCA competition and more, perhaps, to do with Saab's own interest in engaging with the DRDO in a variety of programmes, presumably the Tejas Mk.2, unmanned air vehicles (including UCAVs) and others.

Somehow, considering where the indigenous fighter programme is right now, it might have been a more impactful photo-op if Dr Saraswat had chosen to make his fighter debut in the Tejas Mk.1 trainer. The Gripen and Tejas are variously compared too. Who knows, maybe he'll do it now.

Incidentally, I did a sortie in a Gripen-D too (likely the very same aircraft) in October 2009, with Saab test pilot Robin Nordlander.

Stratpost editor Saurabh Joshi was at the flightline during the DRDO chief's flight and took these photos he's been kind enough to share with me.

Livefist: DRDO Chief Takes A Spin In A Gripen

I think they are still looking towards Gripen and EF-2000 in 50-50 numbers.

[IND151]

^^ i don't think so

doing so means two platforms instead of one, more stress to absorb and less discounts from both companies as orders not large as they expected

it is good to have as less type of fighters as possible

more types mean maintenance nightmare

[Yeti]

UK uses the Gripen for it's Empire Test Pilots' School, I like the fact that this bird can take off and land from public roads and has a short-turnaround time of just 10 minutes in a war time situation that can be very handy indeed.

[sancho]

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Top Gun Saraswat

DRDO head, Dr. V.K. Saraswat, took a backseat ride in the Swedish Saab's Gripen C/D aircraft on the sidelines of the Aerospace Forum held at Linköping, Sweden, last week...

...The Gripen and the DRDO’s LCA, both, run on the same engine, the GE F-404 for the earlier model and the F-414 for the later variants. In comparison to the development path from the Gripen A/B to the C/D and now Gripen E/F or NG, DRDO is attempting a development leap from the LCA to the Mk II and so the challenges are considerable. The DRDO has been facing problems integrating the new engine into the LCA for the Mk II and could possibly benefit from Saab’s experience with the development of the Gripen. It is understood that the DRDO and Saab have discussed this idea in their ongoing dialogue.

Top Gun Saraswat | StratPost