Brazil has further advanced its acquisition programme for the Saab Gripen NG, by signing a roughly $245 million contract for the type’s weapons. Announced on 24 April, the deal is between the company and the Brazilian defence ministry’s aeronautics command.
Saab declines to detail the individual weapon systems included in the package, but says all export authorisations should be received during the second half of this year.
“The acquisition contract includes weapon deliveries by Saab and suppliers which have been selected by the customer,” it adds.
Brazil last October confirmed its programme to acquire 36 Gripen NGs, following a selection decision made in December 2013. A final agreement covering the financial aspects of the main procurement should be concluded soon, according to Saab.
Brazilian air force
“We expect that the agreement with the Brazilian government comes into effect during the second quarter, and the total order value will amount to SKr39.3 billion [$4.6 billion],” chief executive Håkan Buskhe said in a first quarter earnings statement also released on 24 April.
Saab and Embraer earlier this month finalised their joint programme management and production arrangements for the Brazilian air force’s first batch of Gripens. The service will receive 28 single-seat NG-model examples and eight two-seat examples from 2019 under the initial acquisition, but could eventually order further examples to take this total above 100 aircraft.
Source: FlightGlobal.com
