Raymond:
Not sure what you mean about the Gripen - ETPS have flown the type under an agreement with Saab for several years, and earlier this year signed a deal to extend the agreement. No immediate prospect of Qinetiq buying the aircraft though, so no funky colour schemes thank you!
Moose
From Flight International:
The UK's Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is to greatly expand its use of Saab's Gripen fighter under a new agreement with the manufacturer and Sweden's Defence Materiel Administration.
Concluded in mid-April, the initial two-year deal builds on the organisation's less-formal use of the two-seat JAS39B Gripen since 1999 and will enable the school's instructors and students to gain access totalling around 200 flight hours over the contract period.
ETPS will buy flight hours and simulator time from Saab on a "power-by-the-hour" basis, with operations from the company's Linkoping manufacturing site to initially involve the JAS39B.
However, industry sources suggest that access to the improved JAS39D could start next year, when the aircraft could also be deployed to Boscombe Down for some training activities. ETPS officials have been seeking access to an advanced fighter type to support the systems-intensive element of the school's military training syllabus, at a time when its Sepecat Jaguar T2s are becoming obsolete (Flight International, 7-13 September 2004). The newly contracted Gripen will be used to instruct students in areas such as longitudinal stability, latitudinal stability and radar system assessment work.
Students on the 12-month ETPS course have previously flown Gripens with Saab test pilots, but will from this year undergo training with ETPS instructor pilots, two of whom began flight activities at Linkoping on 18 April. Each of the school's five current fixed-wing students – four from the UK Royal Air Force and one from the Royal Australian Air Force – will log 11 flight hours during five Gripen sorties this year, expanding on a previous maximum of around 2h each.
An ongoing internal study into the activities and composition of the ETPS, which is operated by Qinetiq's Test and Evaluation Services organisation under an agreement with the UK Ministry of Defence, is to make recommendations on its future core fleet of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters. Saab hopes that its new deal with the school will leave it well positioned for continued operations of the Gripen after 2006.