How FAB is Preparing for the Arrival of the Gripen
The second episode of ‘True Collaboration Season 3’ takes a look at the kind of preparations that are currently being carried out in Wing 2 of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) for the arrival of the Gripen fighters.
The preparations comprise everything from setting up the infrastructure and facilities for Gripen and its weapons to getting ready to meet the electrical demands of the facilities. "We are adapting all of our facilities - the hangars, the open sheds, the administrative building and the operational building where all pilots and maintenance staff will stay, so that we can prepare as much as possible to the prerequisites," says Cel Av Antonio Marcos, Wing 2 Commander- Brazilian Air Force.
The training of the Gripen pilots, maintenance staff, and the Gripen technicians is something that has been a part of the technology transfer programme of the project. According to Marcos, the FAB will welcome all their new Gripen pilots this year and the maintenance staff and technicians the next year.
The first Brazilian Gripen aircraft meant to start the flight test programme, was delivered in 2019. This aircraft has been performing test flights in Sweden all this while, and will be moved to Brazil later this year to continue the test campaign. Deliveries to the Brazilian Air Force will begin in 2021.
"Brazilian Air Force is preparing itself thoroughly so that the aircraft, from the moment it lands here, is ready to operate the next day," Marcos concludes.