The 4100 fighter jet, used as a prototype and undergoing all tests in Brazil, was at Anápolis Air Base (BAAN) for a series of flights that tested the aircraft’s behavior and performance in high temperatures.
The hot weather flight test campaign that is taking place in the country aims to validate, in a real situation, the engineers’ predictive calculations regarding the external heat that the aircraft can withstand.
The city of Anápolis was chosen for this stage due to its climate and high altitude. “Anápolis is located about 1,100 meters above the sea and has average temperatures of 35º C, which is why we chose to bring the fighter, based in Gavião Peixoto, at the Gripen Flight Test Center (GFTC), to Anápolis. This is also the city where the fighters already operate,” explained Erik Magnusson, Saab’s flight test engineer responsible for global climate tests, who came from Sweden to accompany the tests.
A team of Brazilian professionals from Saab Brasil and Embraer are involved in various phases of the climate tests, which began in September in Gavião Peixoto and will continue over the coming months to validate other temperature parameters as part of the global tests. “This is an important step in the global Gripen E testing campaign, as the tests carried out here are valid for all aircraft of the model, not just the Brazilian Gripen. This was also the first test this year outside Gavião Peixoto and at the Brazilian Air Force base,” said Magnusson.
In Anápolis, the fighter was exposed to the sun for long periods so that the engineers could assess the aircraft’s behavior in the city’s high temperatures. For three days, Saab test pilot Jonas Jakobsson took off with the Gripen at an average temperature of 32ºC and traveled for approximately one hour. The results will be used to validate that the aircraft can operate in hot weather, as required in Brazil.
Around 800 sensors, including the aircraft’s own sensors and others installed especially for the test, collected data from the aircraft on the ground and throughout the flight. The information was transmitted in real time to a telemetry room set up by the Saab and Embraer team at BAAN to monitor the tests. On landing, the temperature of the brakes is measured, and once they have cooled down, the data from the systems is downloaded for further analysis.
“The initial results were positive and confirmed much of what we had already predicted. The data from all the sensors will now be used to validate that the Gripen can operate with excellent performance in regions with a hot, dry, high-altitude climate, such as that found in Brazil, or anywhere else in the world with similar temperatures,” said Eduardo Kitada, Embraer’s systems engineer, responsible for the climate tests in Brazil.
*** Translated by DEFCONPress FYI Team ***