Leonardo has signed a multi-year assistance contract with Draken International which will guarantee the availability of radar control systems for shooting Grifo-L installed on the Draken fleet of 24 fighter L-159E whenever necessary. The key to awarding the contract was Leonardo's ability to rapidly implement a tailored business model based on which solid support is provided through a highly effective repair and replacement cycle.
Radars Grifo-L, subject of this support contract, are used to provide "Adversary Air" services at the United States Air Force (USAF) Fighter Weapons School of the Nellis Air Force Base. Here, the L-159E, nicknamed "Honey Badger", simulates the role of an enemy aircraft. The radar Grifo-L it is used to emulate a credible threat to US, Italian, NATO, fourth and fifth generation fighter pilots undergoing training.
The contract is designed to support Draken's "flying-by-the-hour" business model, which requires radars Grifo-L are readily available. To meet this need, Leonardo has developed a tailored and high-performance approach. The new model has been successfully tested with Draken in the 2018.
The radar family Tap of Leonardo is in service with six international air forces and with Draken, a private operator. In total, more than 450 radars were sold Tap, for a total of more than 150.000 flight hours. The latest version of the family is radar Grifo-346, which offers optimized performance and was designed specifically for Leonardo's M-346FA (Fighter Attack) aircraft.
