The Gripen fighter, being phased into service by the South African Air Force (SAAF), is already delivering on the promises made by its manufacturer, Saab of Sweden.

This was reported on Wednesday by Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) chief radar and electronic warfare systems engineer Francois Anderson.

Although the Gripen is still in the commissioning phase and thus is still classified as a project and not as operational aircraft, the fighters were used to help provide aerial security, enforcing restricted flight zones, for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in June and July.

The Gripens, which are operated by 2 Squadron at Air Force Base (AFB) Makhado in Limpopo province, were, during the World Cup, forward deployed to Pretoria and to AFB Overberg (near Bredasdorp) in Western Cape province.

"The pilots reported that the aircraft was delivering on the promises -- carefree handling, seamless [avionics] integration, excellent situational awareness, ease of operations away from base, and quick turnaround times," revealed Anderson.

Turnaround (refuelling and preparing an aircraft for a new mission, immediately after it has returned from a prior mission) times could be, it seems, as short as ten minutes.

SAAF tactical planning for Gripen patrols during the World Cup was supported by the CSIR.

"The CSIR's tactics simulation tool was used by the SAAF to determine the tactics for protecting the World Cup," explained CSIR modelling and simulation principle engineer John Monk. "The CSIR provides mission simulation capability to the SAAF to assist them in developing their tactics. The CSIR does not develop tactics. The SAAF does."

The development of a tactical simulation system for the Gripen involved the development of digital models of the aircraft, its radar warning receiver, missiles (using data supplied by local missile manufacturer Denel Dynamics), and datalink.

(This has also been linked into the CSIR's Virtual Ground Based Air Defence System demonstrator, and it is hoped in future to add Helmet Mounted Display functionality to the Gripen tactical simulation system and to link it to the man-in-the-loop Gripen and Hawk pilot training simulators at AFB Makhado).

"The Gripen has seamlessly integrated digital avionics with data fusion," stated Anderson, who added that it had benign flying characteristics, was agile, designed for network centric warfare, was well equipped for electronic warfare, and was quite a stealthy design.

He pointed out that the Gripen had been modified for the SAAF, so that it met the requirements of the African environment. One of these is the need to make long flights, so the SAAF version is fitted for air-to-air refuelling and with extra oxygen supplies for the pilot.

The fighter is also fitted with the local Link ZA datalink, which employs South African designed and manufactured radios fitted to the aircraft.

(Anderson and Monk were addressing sessions of the CSIR Third Biennial Conference in Pretoria).