MALMEN AIR BASE — Saab is developing three unmanned aircraft — the A1, A2 and A3 — as stepping stones toward a potential new loyal wingman fighter system, the company announced Saturday during an air show for the Swedish Air Force’s centennial.
A decision on state funding for the A3 version has yet to be made, but Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson said he likes Saab’s approach.
“I think it would be a natural further development of the Gripen system to have a loyal [unmanned] wingman component that can perform deep operations together with the mother platform,” Jonson told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the air show here outside the city of Linköping.
The A1 will be a supersonic demonstrator powered by an artificial intelligence-driven GE F414 engine — the same American engine used in the Gripen E/F. The A2 will feature an internal weapons bay. Both are expected to fly within four years, with the first within 15 months.
The A3, which Saab says may become the sales product, could enter service within ten years if the government decides to proceed with the aircraft. A full-scale model of the A3 was on display outside Saab’s hangar at the air show. While the aircraft are similar to the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) being developed by the US Air Force, Saab uses the term Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) to describe their systems of this type.
