Speculation in the Hungarian and British press that Gripen engine supplier GE favours the Swedish fighter's two competitors in a Hungarian air force competition are untrue.
So says George Bolln, GE Aircraft Engines general manager, F404/F414 project.
The F-16 and F-18 are also in the running for the Hungarian order.
Bolln explains: "The whole sorry story came about due to an original misquote, and then like Chinese whispers, the article became changed, translated, rewritten and further misrepresented.
"I'm very upset about it because it has no foundation in fact whatsoever.
"All it means is that I have to talk to McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Martin, Saab and British Aerospace and explain how the misunderstanding arose.
"And of course the denials in the newspapers never such a prominent position as the original error."
Thrust vectoring
Asked whether there was any intention to introduce thrust vectoring onto the Gripen, Bolln says that although nothing has been specifically planned, there could be the opportunity to use the technology on the already agile fighter.
He says that GE is hopeful of launching its three-nation Vector project later this year.
Vector will bring together GE, Volvo Flygmotor and DASA, using the X-31 as the platform and further developing GE's AVEN vectoring demonstrator which was trialled some years ago on a F-110-powered F-16.
* Speaking at the show yesterday, Saab's Hans Kruger said that a decision was imminent from the Swedish air force regarding its requirement for a further 60 to 64 Gripens (four complete squadrons).
Kruger, who's the company's senior vice-president and general manager, says that the order would guarantee production of the fighter until the end of 2007 - without any of the exports which partners Saab and British Aerospace hope to achieve.
"We're currently running 10 separate sales campaigns around the world," says Kruger, "and both partners are hopeful that our genuine fourth-generation fighter will generate considerable orders."
Nigel Whitehead, British Aerospace's Gripen project director, explains that the aircraft is at the beginning of its life-cycle.
"The Gripen will be in production for at least 20 years," he says, "and this true multi-role combat aircraft, with high maintainability and low maintenance costs, will prove hugely cost-effective for all the air forces which buy it."
Although there is no intention to instal engines other than the current equipment, Whitehead says that they will listen to their customers.
"We don't rule out any options," he says, "but there are certainly no plans to offer the aircraft with other than the existing RM-12 powerplant"
Contract
Export Gripens will, however, be offered with FADEC, although a final contract won't be signed until the autumn with the preferred supplier.
The aircraft's recent 'extreme cold-weather' testing programme at Boscombe Down in the UK was successful, says Whitehead.
Apparently, temperatures in Sweden don't go as low as they did due to global warming, so even the Arctic circle couldn't provide the venue to test the airframe to below -30 degrees C.
The equipment at Boscombe Down enabled the necessary tests to be conducted down to -40 degrees.
The aircraft then returned home to Sweden via Brough (overfly) and Warton (landing) in northern England so that BAe employees could take a closer look at 'their' aircraft.
* Incidentally, did you know that three military conscripts and a supervising technician can change a Gripen engine in less than an hour, regardless of weather conditions?
Using three mini-hoists (also used to load the ordnance), the team doesn't need any special skills.
The only tricky bit - the throttle connection - is checked by the supervisor, which is good to know... especially for the pilots!
Source: Flight Daily News
