New Gripen contracts for Saab

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LINKOPING, Sweden, July 3 (UPI) -- Development of the next-generation Gripen fighter by Saab of Sweden is to be supported by the Swedish government.

Four contracts from the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration, worth a combined total of about $809.6 million, have been awarded to support Gripen development, support and maintenance through 2016, the company said.

Included are performance-based support and maintenance, performance-based logistics and ground resources for current aircraft.

"Gripen has already proven its growth potential by carrying out different mission task that it was not initially intended for, like last summer's operation Unified Protector in Libya," said Lennart Sindahl, head of Saab's Aeronautics business area. "It is, therefore, important for the future that we can continue to add new capabilities by request from FMV to a flight system that has already proven to be of world class today."

Under performance-based logistics provisions, Saab is to provide guaranteed service times for systems and sub-systems on current models of aircraft that are flown by Sweden.