This two-seat version of the Gripen fighter aircraft (SA01), wearing South African Air Force (SAAF) livery and bearing the South African flag, arrived in South Africa in July 2006, and has been based at the Test Flight Development Centre (TFDC) near Bredasdorp in the Southern Cape, where it has been prepared for a thorough and intensive South African flight test programme.
Gripen SA01 over Table Bay, South Africa August 2006

A team of technical experts from Gripen’s manufacturer, Saab, has been seconded from Sweden to TFDC for two years, to work alongside their South African counterparts from the SAAF, Armscor and Denel on the flight test programme. When completed, this programme will lead directly to the delivery of the first Gripen to South Africa in early 2008.

“We are delighted to celebrate AAD 2006 in Cape Town this year. Saab, in agreement with South Africa’s Department of Defence, agreed to temporarily release this aircraft from its intensive TFDC flight test programme, so that it can appear at the show. We appreciate the keen interest that South Africans continue to express in the Gripen programme and we are responding to this by enabling South Africans to see the country’s future fighter close up for the very first time,” explained Gripen International Managing Director, Johan Lehander.

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