Celebration of the First Czech Republic Gripen Aircraft
(Source: Gripen International; issued Nov. 26, 2004)
At a ceremony today at Saab’s factory in Linköping the first Czech Republic Gripen aircraft was unveiled to the public for the first time. The ceremony was held to celebrate the completion of the production phase of Czech Republic Gripen aircraft.
The production program has been completed with the integration of Czech specific software and will continue with flight trials which will be conducted at Saab and at the test centre of FMV. The flight test program will continue until the aircraft is delivered to the Czech Republic.
“The completion of the Czech Republic Gripen aircraft production phase and the commencement of the test flight program is yet another important milestone in the Gripen program for the Czech Republic”, says Per Nilsson FMV’s Program Manager for the Czech Republic Program.
The first Czech Gripen aircraft made its maiden flight on 18 October 2004 and Czech pilots will start flying their Gripen’s at the beginning of 2005.
The first Gripen fighter will be delivered to the Czech Republic in April 2005 and deliveries will be completed in August 2005. In total, the Czech Republic will lease 14 Gripen fighter aircraft (12 single seat and 2 dual seat) for a period of 10 years, between 2005 and 2015.
The Czech Republic will be the first NATO country to operate the fourth generation Gripen fighter, and will be taking delivery of the latest C and D versions of the aircraft. These aircraft are the latest standard of the Gripen fighter, equipped with full color cockpit displays, a retractable air-to-air refueling probe and are fully NATO-interoperable.
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