Gripen NG немного о новом

By Björn Danielsson

Holistic Approach

Gripen NG is the only modern fighter taking a holistic approach to the utilization of electromagnetic energy in air combat. In Gripen NG we implement the Wide Spectrum Combat,thereby recognizing that information gathering and information sharing are two sides of the same coin.

Future Air Combat

What do we mean by this? Well, let's take an example. In air combat, the basic problem is to find out where the enemy aircraft are. If you don't know this you cannot launch your weapons. The same is true for the enemy, of course. Traditionally, fighter aircraft use their onboard radars for this. But future air combat is most likely to be much more silent than it is today. This means that fighter aircraft approaching each other will try to emit as little electromagnetic energy as possible, not using their radars in active mode.

Silent Gripens

Gripen NG is built for such future silent operations. When Gripen NG approaches an advanced adversary in the air, its powerful AESA radar and EW antennas are silent, listening. These two systems are very well adapted for position determination by only listening to enemy emissions. It is important to notice that in a totally silent scenario, where all aircraft avoid emitting with radar, RCS (Radar Cross Section) is meaningless.
It doesn’t matter if you have the best stealth features in the world if all radars in the scenario are turned off. And as soon as an enemy turns his radar on and starts emitting, Gripen NG pilots know where he is.

Other Parts of Spectrum

But as we said in the beginning, Gripen NG has a holistic approach to electromagnetic energy, listening not only for enemy radar emissions but also for a multitude of other possible emissions in the electromagnetic spectrum. Gripen NG has a large number of antennas spread out around the entire airframe for this purpose, for example AESA, EW, IRST, data link and radio antennas. All of them are silent, listening on different frequencies. As soon as an enemy emits electromagnetic energy in any way, we try to find his position. And if the enemy is silent all the way in, there is still one emission he can't stop - heat. So in the end we find his position with IRST.

Information Gathering and Information Sharing

Information gathering is done using electromagnetic energy in some form. However, information sharing is also done using electromagnetic energy. Both activities are carried out in the same arena. This means that the information sharing activities of one side can be used for information gathering by the other. As already mentioned, in Gripen NG we implement the Wide Spectrum Combat, trying to pick up all enemy signals in all possible parts of the electromagnetic spectrum.

Data Fusion

Gripen has technology to share information about enemy positions without giving its own position away. This in turn, makes it possible to utilize advanced data fusion, fusing together all the information about enemy positions that exists in the Gripen NG formation network. All pieces of information, coming from different Gripen NG fighters, and from different sensors onboard these fighters, are analyzed in the network nodes. A well spread-out Gripen NG formation also facilitates triangulation calculations of enemy positions with high accuracy. The result is a much more distinct and clear overall picture of the enemy positions and movements in the battle space.

Human Machine Interface

The advanced data fusion system in each aircraft, treating all sensors in the entire unit as a whole, builds up a clear situation picture. This picture is presented to the pilots on their easily interpreted widescreen 3D situation displays, and also as a corresponding, very distinct, out-of-the window picture in their HMDs (Helmet Mounted Displays). The result is a superior situational awareness among the Gripen NG pilots.
This situational awareness is further complemented by decision support tools, showing to the pilots just how close to the enemy they can fly without being shot down. This means that Gripen NG pilots can put much more offensive pressure on the enemy in BVR combat, than pilots using older tools like WEZ (Weapon Engagement Zone) which are present in many fighters today. The mission computer automatically decides what information is most important to present on the display in any situation. But the pilot always has the possibility to override this.