Swedish defence considering developing drone-like fighter jets but there could be limitations

Wednesday, 15 August 2012
The Swedish defence is investigating the possibility of developing an unmanned Jas aircraft as the interest into the American- style drone continues to grow in the other western military.
The Swedish technology paper, Nyteknik said it has seen the evidence from a classified documents.
The unmanned combat aircraft will play an increasingly important role in future military operations, according to an assessment made by Swedish defence.

As such it is determined that the next-generation JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets can become a pilotless plane as well as the converting the current version to switch between hunting, attack and reconnaissance, Ny tecknik reports.

The paper reports that the information has been buried in within previously classified budget documents from the Commander of the Swedish defence in relation to the future of the air force.

The Swedish defense authority is reported to have studied something called C3-option which deals with upgrades of the JAS 39 Gripen. It has studied the possibilities of producing both manned and unmanned versions of the JAS system.

A pilot - less fighter has several advantages - it can avoid exposing a pilot to danger and it does not take into account the pilot's need for food and sleep.

The plane can also "behave in another way, than if a man sits in the platform," the Swedish defence thinks according to Ny Teknik.

But there are also obvious disadvantages. The plane can be difficult to control, they take time to develop and are expensive to produce. So far it is unclear what C3 option would cost.

"I would also perhaps warn that investing in one type of weapon platforms that no one else has can be very expensive for a small country," says Fredrik Lindvall, security policy analyst at the Swedish defence, FOI, to radio Sweden.
by Scancomark.se Team

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