German Car Zone

The Swedish Airplane Company, or Saab AB, has been building aircraft since 1937. To diversify its business, the company started making cars in the late 1940s. Whether we cringe or not, Saab Automobile (the car division) has always reminded the public that its cars have fighter jet DNA (e.g., "Born from Jets"). Now comes word that the Swedish aeronautics manufacturer is partnering with India's Tata Group to build a variant of the Gripen fighter designed to go head-to-head with the some of the world's top military aircraft for some billion-dollar contracts.

Tata brings quite a bit to the relationship. India's largest business group not only builds a vast amount of vehicles, but it has steel manufacturing divisions, electric companies, and IT businesses. Tata also brings cash to the table. Whether the new bedfellows can get it together and knock such heavy-hitters as the F-16, F-18, and MiG-29 out of the sky has yet to be determined, but it should be an interesting battle.

[Source: Google/AFP]

Very interesting.

Nothing extraordinary really. Most orders in the industry are made of personalized versions anyway. They are designed for the individual needs of the respective customer and usually include co-operation with a partner company from that country.

You could say Saab has somewhat struggled in selling the Gripen and just recently lost the competition for Norway's next generation fighter jet as the Norwegians chose the F-35 instead. India is a large customer so naturally the co-operation with Saab will be very extensive.

The thing with the Gripen is that it is well-priced and multi-role capable which suits countries on a budget (3rd world countries, even). It's no surprise that it lost out to the newer, more sophisticated F35 in a country like Norway but I'm willing to wager that the Gripen comes in at half the price.

In my mind the Gripen has the potential to be a modern day Mirage III. Compact, single engined, easy to maintain, cheap and versatile the Gripen has the potential to become what the Mirage III was. Many countries became licensed manufacturers and the technology know-how saw countries like Israel and South Africa developing enhanced capability versions from the original platform like the Kfir and Cheetah respectively. The Gripen has the potential to be to the poorer nations of the world what the Mirage 2000 never amounted to.

Things i didn't know before,keep it coming guys

Superb news ..

Here is another thing you didnt know tarek

The fuel pump alone in the previous JAS has around 280hp

Damn,can it be installed in a car?.haha

Anymore info is appreciated,keep it coming

^The tanks of the previous one held 8000l, at full afterburner,the tanks where empty after 8min

Was I the only one who thought the plane would have a propeller and giant rubber band?

They want to produce a brand new jet to take out F16s and F18s, wow tough job. The F16 and F18 have only been around for almost 30 years!