On Sunday published two Swiss newspapers, SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche, information leaked from the Swiss Ministry of Defense and a sub-commission which is investigating the Gripen purchase. The leaks are so severe that Swiss parliamentary security committee is now suing the unknown person who leaked the information for violation of professional secrecy.
The leaks are for a test flight with the Gripen E / F demonstration plan that Swiss pilots did recently in Linköping, and discussions during the confidential session of the Commission.
The information was verified with three independent sources such as newspapers.
The test flight was apparently not what the pilots had expected, according to documents. Only seven of 98 improvements that Switzerland calls for the purchase of 22 planes for 3.1 billion Swiss francs has been made, it is stated.
The pilots were among other things, disappointed that the new Gripen does not achieve the expected speed. The plane can fly at Mach 2, which means that they fly twice as fast as the speed of sound. But the pilot could not reach more than 1.34 Mach, according to documents.
It also notes that the plane did not have the promised new wings. The two new missiles AMRAAM and IRST installed on the plane was also only dummies, called it forth.
Also new on the upgraded Gripen aircraft is three additional fuel tanks with 1700 liters each. This is important for the Swiss who need the tanks for example, observation flights during the summit in Davos. Here, said the Swiss pilots have been disappointed in Linköping. The Swiss delegation had wanted to try out ideas, but Saab The people refused, with three external tanks plane had slowed too much, said the newspaper source.
In a quote from the informant summarized the criticism: It's like test driving a new car, but the dealer says you can not run more than 80 km / h, not to take too tight curves, and to get the new radio with gps you have to wait for six years.
At meetings of the Parliamentary Sub-commission-like noises have been heard, according to the leaked documents. Chief engineer of the Swiss Air Force, invited Mr Gore, has not saved any punches when he spoke before the Commission.
- Gripen performance, including the upgraded E / F-plane, is very moderate. Kind of like a dull knife that will not cut well. The knife might cut off a piece of string, but it is thicker it becomes difficult to manage, according to Air Force chief engineer.
Gore has also expressed concern that 70 percent of the components of the upgraded Gripen aircraft is new, and that there might be misconstructions during production that can increase the cost and delay plane. According to current planning the Gripen planes will be delivered to Switzerland 2018th But in terms of today's rhythm risk Saab to postpone delivery of Gripen E / F 2020 or 2023, Gore has told the Commission, according to the leaked reports.
At Saab rejected tasks powerful. They sent two people to Switzerland this week to talk to reporters in Bern after the leaks, which shows that the publication was loaded.
- There is absolutely no truth content of this information. Most of the facts is incorrect. Take, for example speed. We have flown this plane very close to Mach 2, but the Swiss pilot did not reach higher than 1.34 Mach. He did not want to fly faster, says Eddy de la Motta, head of the Gripen Export to SvD Business.
Nor is it surprising that the missiles were mounted on the plane because the only flight characteristics were tested using what is not sharp robots without dummies capture the geometry and weight, according to de la Motta. The new wing will also later look basically the same. And the pilots did not want to try the fuel tanks, it is also wrong.
-It is claimed that only seven of 98 required improvements. It is totally wrong. We have fixed 93 percent of requirements. Some are already present Gripen C / D level, otherwise during testing. We are prepared to deliver the plan, four years after the contract has been signed, says de la Motta.
Two completely different versions that is. If so much is wrong, why are you taking no action against the newspapers?
-No, probably do not we do it.
How do you interpret these negative data distributed?
-It is not uncommon that, this is happening, especially when you are good to deal with, says de la Motta who do not believe that this has any effect on the deal with Switzerland.
Some argue that there are interests in Switzerland who wants to Gripen in a bad light to get the country to refrain from buying new fighter aircraft, or to convince the military to buy French Rafale instead. There are always games behind the scenes on major arms deals, and it's hard to say how the latest leaks fit this game.
Thomas Hurter, ordförand e parliamentary sub-commission investigating the government's selection of Gripen correctness, is moderately fond of the leaks.
-It does not help when this kind of information leaks. It is deeply troubling, and we do not know where the data comes. I'm going to investigate who leaked the secret information, said Thomas Hurter to SvD Business.
Does the data, such as that only seven of 98 required measures have been taken on the plane that test flight?
-I can not answer yes or no. We are finishing our investigation will be completed in a month, answers Hurter.
Swiss Defence Minister Ueli Maurer, however upheld its decision to purchase 22 Gripen aircraft, in spite of "those damn leaks" as he calls the acclaimed Journal of the data.
-Apparently there are people in my department who do not like the Gripen. I will examine the data, no smoke without fire. But it's Gripen or nothing, says defense minister.