Swedish Defense Minister heads to India for promoting Saab's Gripen NG fighter aircraft.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had in April said his government was in talks with Swedish defence company Saab Group to set up a production unit in his state.

During his trip to that country, Fadnavis had tweeted a photo of himself in the cockpit of a Gripen and said "it was great to be at the aerospace and defence company Saab at Linkoping, Sweden. Promised a defence manufacturing policy in Maharashtra soon."

Saab had offered JAS 39 Gripen E light fighter to India when the tender for Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft was announced. The bid was finally won by French firm Dassault Aviation.

Parrikar has said that Tejas would be replacement of aging MiG-21s. India's Defense Research and Development Organization had a few years back sought Saab's help in the Mark II version of Tejas.

Saab is likely to insist on a government-to-government (G2G) deal if they step in to assist India in developing and manufacturing a light fighter.

India and Sweden had on June 1 signed several agreements to boost ties and decided to restart the bilateral strategic dialogue besides finding ways for investment by the Nordic country in India's defence sector under the ambitious 'Make-in-India' initiative.

With changed FDI rules and the 'Make-in-India' campaign, it is expected that Swedish government would look at India as a manufacturing base.

The Gripen NG is a modernized variant following on from the Gripen Demo technology demonstrator. Changes from the JAS 39C/D include the more powerful F414G engine, Raven ES-05 AESA radar, increased fuel capacity and payload, two additional hardpoints, and other improvements.

(Source: Economic Times)