Tirada do MP.Net do topico oficial do gripen
Saab Ready to Make Gripen Jet in Brazil, Marketing Chief Says
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By Sabine Pirone
July 7 (Bloomberg) -- Saab AB, the Swedish maker of the Gripen jet fighter, is ready to make Brazil the manufacturing center for the aircraft to increase its chances of winning a $1.8 billion order and safeguard the model’s future.
Saab is prepared to shift as much as 50 percent of future Gripen production to the South American country, where the main competition to provide 36 warplanes is from Boeing Co.’s F/A- 18, Bob Kemp, marketing chief for the $50 million plane, said in an interview. Final assembly work has already been offered to Empresa Brasileira de Aeronautica SA, or Embraer, he said.
Saab is betting on the Brazilian order to rescue the flagship Gripen as the production backlog shrinks. Winning the contract, which may be awarded as early as next month, is crucial to establishing the model as the warplane of choice in markets not already dominated by Boeing and Lockheed Martin Corp., which is grabbing market share with its F-35. (So far the F-35 has not grabbed any market share since it has no export orders other than a handful of test a/c and will initally only replacing jets on a existing LM market share anyway / sig)
“Maybe in the future Brazil will become the leading exporter of the next-generation Gripen,” Kemp said yesterday by telephone from Linkoeping, Sweden, where Saab is based. “This fits perfectly with their strategic ambitions. We are looking at six or seven major defense companies that have the potential of offering equipment for our aircraft.”
Brazil’s defense ministry said that final bids for the contract were submitted last month from Boeing, Saab and France’s Dassault Aviation SA, which is pitching the Rafale. The air force will make a recommendation to Defense Minister Nelson Jobim in early August, with the final decision in the hands of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Less Costly
Saab may be able to fend off Boeing because it’s able to transfer more technology to Brazil than the Chicago-based company, Kemp said, adding that the Gripen costs about 20 percent less than the more-sophisticated F/A-18 (oh really.. /sig) and is better matched to Brazil’s need for a low-maintenance fighter able to operate in small numbers from widely dispersed airfields. Spare parts and maintenance may also cost one-third less, he said.
While Brazil’s initial requirement is to replace a batch of aging Mirage jets made by Paris-based Dassault, the country may need as many as 120 planes, Kemp said, each with a life of as many as 40 years.
“In terms of value for money the Gripen is a superb aircraft, but Saab is at a terrible disadvantage in not having a strong home market,” said Richard Aboulafia, vice president at Teal Group, a Fairfax, Virginia-based consultancy. (and the Super Hornet has one.. ? Gripen has currently funded developments to 2025 and will be in SwAF service until 2040 /sig)
While the model has so far won 250 orders, 204 of them are from Sweden, where some planes have been leased out as the government reins in defense spending. (235 ordered by Sweden, 221 to the SwAF, 14 leased to CzAF, 14 built and sold to HuAF, 26 built and sold to SAAF, 6 built and sold to RTAF, plus 6 on option. = 281 Saab built jets at with 60(+6) of them on export. Compared to 24 exported Super Hornets on a ~350 build run. / sig)
Key Contracts
The future of the 1,320 mile-per-hour plane will be determined by purchases in Brazil, India and Switzerland within the next 18 months, Aboulafia said. Saab may need to provide more inducements because it can’t match the offset work that Boeing can offer in fields such as civil aerospace, he said. (perhaps if all your ambition is to manufacture metal and composite parts according to a Boeing blueprint... /sig)
Brazil would be granted a full 50-50 partnership on development, production and marketing of the Gripen for export, the executive said, including the manufacture of high-value communications, display and avionics systems.
Saab has so far won only two export contracts for the Gripen, with South Africa buying 26 planes and Thailand taking six. (plus Hungary and support for the Czech R. /sig) Deliveries will run out in 2012 and output is down to 10 to 12 aircraft a year from about 15 previously, with suppliers including Volvo Aero, maker of the Gripen’s RM12 engine, already winding down production. (to export customers 2012 yes but to the SwAF during 2014.. it's also no surprise that Volvo is winding down since Saab is moving to the GE 414G engine on future exports /sig)
Local Opportunities
Saab’s plan to develop an enhanced “next generation” Gripen means it can offer Brazil collaboration from the design stage on, unlike Boeing and Dassault, Kemp said. The size and status of the Brazilian aerospace industry makes a partnership feasible, he added. Embraer is the world’s fourth-biggest planemaker after Boeing, Airbus SAS and Bombardier Inc.
“I think there’s no question in the minds of Brazilians that Boeing’s product is the best and competitively priced,” Mike Coggins, senior manager for business development at Boeing’s defense unit, said by telephone from St. Louis.
It makes no financial sense to co-produce locally the 36 planes Brazil is seeking, although a larger order in the future may provide the necessary scale, he said. As part of its offsetting technology transfer package, Boeing will allow Brazilian companies to help develop future upgrades, he added.
Argentina, Ecuador and Mexico represent possible export opportunities within Brazil’s immediate sphere of influence, Saab’s Kemp said, with aircraft replacement orders anticipated within the next five years.
The Gripen upgrade plan may work against Saab because Sweden hasn’t ordered the plane and that will make the model “tough to sell,” according to Teal’s Aboulafia. (Sweden has commited to a early buy of the NG if a export customer selects the model.. /sig)
Norway, Denmark
Saab’s pitch to Brazil comes as the company focuses its marketing on “non-aligned” countries that aren’t already major customers for U.S. warplanes as the company seeks to sell at least 200 more Gripens abroad, Kemp said.
Norway dealt Saab a blow in November with a contract for 48 Lockheed Martin F-35s and the Netherlands selected the U.S. plane as the best candidate to replace 85 older aircraft a month later. Denmark may make the same choice this year. All three countries are partners on the F-35 program.
Among countries with no participation in the F-35, India is key, Kemp said, with a requirement for at least 126 fighter aircraft and perhaps as many as 300. Saab has proposed a deal in which it would build the first 18 planes and Bangalore-based Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. would manufacture the rest.
“Our relationship with India is good,” Kemp said. “We want to transfer technology and allow the Indians to get on with it. Basically we would become a subcontractor to HAL.”
Comentarios: "Brazil would be granted a full 50-50 partnership on development, production and marketing of the Gripen for export, the executive said, including the manufacture of high-value communications, display and avionics systems. "
Este trecho acima tecnicamente não transformaria o Brasil em socio igual foi o AMX com a italia? (Obviamente supondo que isso ta no papel, pq de papo todos prometem o mundo
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