First JAS-39C Gripen Arrives Caslav AFB

The Saab JAS 39 "Gripen" (Griffin) is a fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. The aircraft is in service with the Swedish Air Force and the Czech Republic Air Force and has been ordered by the Hungarian Air Force and South African Air Force.n April 2007, Norway signed an agreement on a joint development programme of the aircraft.
Gripen International acts as a prime contracting organisation and is responsible for marketing, selling and supporting the Gripen fighter around the world.The Gripen is designed for performance, flexibility, effectiveness and survivability in air combat. The designation JAS stands for Jakt (Air-to-Air), Attack (Air-to-Surface), and Spaning (Reconnaissance), indicating that the Gripen is a multirole aircraft that can fulfill each mission type. Gripen got its name in a public competition in 1982.The griffin is the heraldry on Saab's logo and suited the multi-role characteristics of the aircraft. Furthermore, the griffin is the symbolic animal of Södermanland,a province neighbouring the location in which Saab AB is headquartered (Linköping, Östergötland).
Flying properties and performance are optimised for fighter missions with high demands on speed, acceleration and turning performance. The combination of delta wing and canards gives the JAS 39 Gripen good take-off and landing performance and flying characteristics. The totally integrated avionics make it a "programmable" aircraft. The Gripen also has a built in electronic warfare unit making it possible to load more ordnance onto the aircraft without losing self defence capabilities.The JAS 39 Gripen affords far more flexibility than earlier generations of combat aircraft, and its operating costs are about two thirds of those for JA 37 Viggen.The specifications for the Gripen required the ability to operate from 800 m runways. Early on in the programme, all flights from Saab's facility in Linköping were flown from within a 9 m × 800 m outline painted on the runway. Stopping distance was reduced by extending the relatively large air brakes using the control surfaces to push the aircraft down enabling the wheel brakes to apply more force and tilting the canards forwards, making them into large air brakes and further pushing the aircraft down.One interesting feature is the Gripen's ability to land on public highways. Once on the ground, it can be refuelled and re-armed in ten minutes by a five man mobile ground crew operating out of a truck, then take off again and resume flying sorties. This gives its users a remarkable level of flexibility in deployment and resupply. * Crew: 1--2
* Length: 14.1 m (46 ft 3 in)
* Wingspan: 8.4 m (27 ft 7 in)
* Height: 4.5 m (14 ft 9 in)
* Wing area: 25.54 m (274.9 ft)
* Empty weight: 6,620 kg (14,600 lb)
* Loaded weight: 8,720 kg (19,200 lb)
* Max takeoff weight: 14,000 kg (31,000 lb)
* Powerplant: 1× Volvo Aero RM12 (GE404) afterburning turbofan, 54 kN dry, 80 kN with afterburner (12,000 lbf / 18,100 lbf)
* Wheel track: 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in)
* Maximum speed: Mach 2
* Range: Combat radius 800km, (500 miles), (430nm). ()
* Service ceiling: 15,000 m (50,000 ft)
* Rate of climb: m/s (ft/min)
* Wing loading: 341 kg/m² (70,3 lb/ft²)
* Thrust/weight: 0.94