New-generation Gripen ( Gripen-NG) Enters Final Assembly Phase At SAAB

Saab has lifted the joined fuselage section for its first Gripen NG prototype into final assembly, and says its programme is on track to deliver advanced capability to Sweden and export customer Brazil.

Revealing the advance at the Dubai air show on 10 November, Ulf Nilsson, head of Saab’s aeronautics business area, said the fighter’s three main sections required only one minor adjustment before they could be joined. “We had less [production line] feedback on the first aircraft than we have on the running production of the [Gripen] C/D,” he notes, attributing this to the new model’s all-digital design.

Saab

Nilsson confirms that lead prototype aircraft 39-8 is on schedule to enter flight-testing during 2016, but will not reveal a target date.

He also highlights the progress being made with the manufacturer’s Gripen E/F deal with Brazil. A first group of 50 Embraer engineers and their families recently arrived in Linköping, with a total of 300 to spend up to two years in Sweden to build the Brazilian company’s design and production expertise on the type. “It’s full-speed ahead – a real long-term partnership,” he says, adding: “they call it a Brazilian aircraft; they are committed to the programme.”

With Saab holding contracts to produce 60 new-generation aircraft for Sweden and 36 for Brazil, Nilsson says the company is looking to build on its success. It is looking with interest at emerging requirements in Finland and Belgium, and also hopes to meet the needs of nations including Bulgaria, Croatia and Slovakia through deals supported by the Swedish government.

Noting that Saab already has the Czech Republic and Hungary as operators, he quips: “Maybe Gripen will be the true ‘Euro fighter’!”

Longer-term opportunities could also lie with Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and potentially in southern Africa, but Saab notes that it is not promoting the aircraft to nations in the Middle East.

Meanwhile, Saab last month delivered its new MS20 operating standard software for the Gripen C/D to its Swedish customer, with final flight testing now under way. The enhancement – which will soon enter operational service – includes the addition of MBDA’s Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile.

The company also took advantage of the Dassault-led Neuron unmanned combat air vehicle’s recent visit to the Vidsel test range in Sweden, by flying its Gripen NG demonstrator in partnership with the stealthy type.

Pia Ericsson/FMV

Nilsson declines to provide details of the test activity conducted by the Gripen, but confirms: “we can feel comfortable that we have the right performance for the future in this area.”

Source: Flight Global 

Map: The countries that recognize Palestine as a state - The Washington Post

The 135th member (Sweden) of the United Nations to officially recognize Palestine as an independent state. The act sparked a tetchy diplomatic incident with Israel.

 

 Map of the countries that recognize Palestine as a state.

 

On the ground, a separate, viable Palestinian state is far from a reality. Israel occupies the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and it partially blockades the Gaza Strip, the territories that would comprise it. The continued expansion of Israeli settlements into the West Bank makes tackling the question of Palestinian sovereignty all the more difficult. So, too, the apparentcollapse of talks between the Israeli government and its Palestinian interlocutors.

Sweden's Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom said her government's decision was aimed at supporting the Palestinian Authority and its beleaguered President Mahmoud Abbas, particularly given the present tensions in Jerusalem. "It is important to support those who believe in negotiations and not violence," she told Al Jazeera. "This will give hope to young Palestinians and Israelis that there is an alternative to violence."

In the absence of progress in negotiations with Israel, Abbas has taken the Palestinians' case to the United Nations in recent years. The effort is mostly symbolic — a bid to deepen the political isolation of the right-wing government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Sweden's move reflects a wider European frustration with Netanyahu. This week, French socialist lawmakers said they were preparing a bill calling on the government to recognize Palestine. In mid-October, British lawmakers overwhelmingly passed a motion indicating "that the Government should recognise the state of Palestine alongside the state of Israel, as a contribution to securing a negotiated two state solution."

The motion is nonbinding, but serves as one more sign of Europe's growing impatience with the Mideast status quo. The United States would want to see the two-state solution come into fruition before conferring official recognition upon Palestine. But that is, at present, a naive hope: A number of prominent ministers in Netanyahu's government reject outright the possibility of the two-state solution ever being realized.

Before Sweden's decision, tiny Iceland was the only Western European country to recognize Palestine.

As you can see in the map, most of the other nations that have not officially recognized Palestine are in the E.U. or are U.S. partners who wouldn't want to ruffle Washington's feathers. These include South Pacific island nations like Kiribati and Nauru.

Even then, it's quite likely that the U.S. will find itself on this map within a steadily shrinking patch of gray in the months and years to come.

Source: The Washington Post