Why Gripen jet a cut above its rivals like F-16V

It’s the Saab made anti-ship missile, stupid!

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

PASAY CITY, Philippines – The Saab Gripen Jas 39 C/D distinctive anti-ship missile looms as a gory warning to lurking enemy warships in the territorial water of the Philippines.

A top executive of the Sweden based multiple role fighter (MRF) jet manufacturer said that Gripen has been a cut above the rest of the fourth generation rivals because of the 434.5 centimeters long 50 cm in diameter's RBS15 anti ship guided smart missile.

“What you’re looking is the Saab missile known as RBS15. This is one of the things that really set apart the Gripen with its competitors. In fact, almost no other modern fighter has a modern anti ship missile integrated. None of them have a weapon attached. The latest version of this missile which we unveiled in the Farnborough Airshow,” Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson told recently this newspaper at the  three days Asian Defense & Security (ADAS) 2018 held recently at the World Trade Center here.

VIDEO: Author being shown by Saab Gripen Vice President for Communication Robert Hewson the  mock- up display of multiple role fighter  multi-billion pesos Gripen Jas 39 C/D and its vaunted long range fire and forget Robot System (RBS) 15 anti-ship missile at the three-day arms expo dubbed as Asian Defense & Security (ADAS) 2018 held recently at the World Trade Center in Pasay City, Philippines.

The distinctive missile that even the United States made F-16 Viper lacks is a game changer.

The Maryland, USA made Viper is the closest rival of the Gripen in the more than sixty billion pesos procurement of the Philippines for an MRF.

The RBS-15 (Robot System 15) is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface, anti-ship missile. The later version Mk. III has the ability to attack land targets as well. The missile was developed by the Swedish company Saab Bofors Dynamics (Wikipidea).

 “As I said, there is no other aircraft in the market today or in the market tomorrow that has the capability that matches RBS15. This is very long range, very powerful weapon system,” he answered when asked that F-16 Viper noticeably lacks this huge munition.

The RBS15 is slow, silent, and uses the curvature of the earth to avoid enemy’s radar detection, according to Miguel Svenson, director of technical sales support, missiles system at the Saab Dynamics, in an article titled “Norse power: the RBS15 forges ahead” by Robin Hughes featured at the September, 2018 Jane’s International Defense Review.

“Survivability is a key feature of the RBS15 Mk 3. The missile stays low and silent, utilizing the curvature of the earth for as long as possible. To overcome the prediction algorithims used by FCS (fire control system), in the terminal phase the activated target seekers initiates randomly generated 2D lateral manouevers, enabled by the new variable thrust engine. Normally when maneuvering the air - speed decreases however, the RBS15 Mk 3 is powered all the way to impact, which Svensson said is “very important to ensure that we meet the times for our way points – so if we need to accelerate in headwinds to meet our way point times –then we can do this,” Jane’s continued.

Hewson said despite the edge of the RBS15, Saab unveiled its latest fourth generation version Gung-nir of the anti ship missile at the Farnborough Airshow, England in July 2018.

It can fly to its target 300 kilometers away from its launcher.

“We called it Gung-nir that’s a name from Norse Mythology, Gung-nir, with a spear of Odin which you throw. It never missed. That’s a fantastic name for anti ship missile,” Hewson said after mimicking Oden throwing a spear to emphasize his point.

He said the primary guidance system of RBS15 is its active radar seeking extensively advance developed for many years.

“You have the option to integrate GPS. There is an INS (inertial navigation system). You used the combination of these things depending on the tactical situation. You can fire the missile singly or in salvos. You can program them to come to a different direction but all of them arrived in the same time.  You may not want to fly on the straight line, you may not want to fly in a predictable force”.

When asked if the anti ship guided smart ordnance can “knocked out” a huge Mainland Chinese Frigate that encroaches in the country’s territory, Hewson retorted that it (can) deliver that capability

“This is a supremely effective anti missile system. It is there for the purposes of national defense and delivers that capability”.

At the demonstration video shown in YouTube titled: “Saab Missiles RBS15 Anti-Ship Missile” a decommissioned frigate was torn into half after it was hit on the starboard by the lethal highly resistant long range RBS15 that flew to the target despite the flares, chaffs, and jam released by the vessel.

 Jane's explained that the target seeker features a high power monopulse with frequency agility and a jittered pulse-repetion frequency (PRF). These and other features allow the missile to counter all existing forms of active and passive countermeasures.

“If the target seeker is jammed, RBS15 Mk3 has Home-On-Jam feature that effectively turns it into an anti-radiation missile. The target seeker’s high resolution also features a unique target discrimination capability that contributes to insensitivity to chaff, decoys, and jammers. Additionally, the target seeker’s behavior is software-controlled. This enables the missile to adapt to new threats as they emerge, and for new features to be added thought software updates,” he cited.

According to Svenson it has a payload of 200 kilogram penetrating blast/fragmentation warhead system with a land attack capability is manufactured by TDW, a wholly owned subsidiary of MBDA Germany, although Saab provides the pre-programmable proximity fuze function. The navigational package is developed by Diehl; the adaptive radar altimeter is designed by Thales in France, with software developed by Saab, and the missile’s multi purpose computer hardware produced by Diehl, again with software designed by Saab. Its GPS type depends on the specific customer requirement either a civilian GPS or a United States military grade GPS, in which case it would be government –furnished equipment and supplied by the customer.

Hewson cited that the Gripen Jas 39 C/D carries the RBS 15 under two of its wings.

“This is very powerful long range very powerful system”.

He said it can travel 200 kilometer from the launching site that travels like a small turbo jet to the the enemy ship.

Example of the 200 kilometers is the stretch of Subic Bay in Zambales, Province to the Chinese encroached Scarborough Shoal, a part of Masinloc, Zambales which is 198 kilometers.

“With the RBS15 Mk 3, we added a huge increase in range (200 km), a new navigation system, many more way points for a highly flexible trajectory, an improved engagement planning capability, and we’ve introduced a new enhanced warhead. We’ve also introduced a GPS for a land attack capability and we’ve reduced the IR (infrared) signature of the missile,” Svensson said on the RBS15 Mk 3 2005 variant.

The in flight missile weight 160 kilogram.

Hewson said he understand the bias of majority of Filipinos in military fora online that passionately discussed the nuances of the F-16 Viper because “people get very emotional, people get attached to aircraft because of their interest to this, people come from enthusiast background and its great to have a debate and discussion about things. And of course I am here to talk about Gripen and other people talk about their aircraft and they will talk about the benefit of their system”. The user has to make an intelligent choice and all I can tell you the capability of the aircraft and they are considerable”.

He said it is still the user, like the Philippines government, who will choose intelligently what is the most applicable to its topography.

Hewson cited the other comparative advantages of the lower maintenance Gripen like its weapon system, avionics versus its competitors. Due to space constraint however this paper will publish their nitty-gritty on its future issues.

To take a sneak peek however how a buyer can save in the maintenance cost in the long run, Gripen force can operate from small airfields or even a highway when no runways are available. It quickly deploy for operations with few personnel and minimum equipment, cited by an excerpt in a brochure given to this paper at the arms expo attended by renowned military manufacturers around the world.

“Combat operation can be sustained with no expensive infrastructure, by day and by night and in all weathers. The Gripen design philosophy ensures that expensive and excessive support and logistic demands will never restrict your ability to deploy air power”.

The short- take- off-landing (STOL) Gripen, that needs only 400 meters of paved roadway, is designed to host a formidable arsenal of weaponry. A fully flexible mission capability offers multiple role requirements without changes to software and hardware. It has combined air-to-air and air-to-surface stores carriage that gives the lethal aerial weaponry a true swing – role capability. The lower priced aircraft, based on its utility's life span, has offensive and defensive operations, including reconnaissance that it can conduct in a single mission.

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(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)