TIL Saab was an aerospace company.
My Dad had a '98 Saab. It had an "S" button on the shifter. It stood for "speed". When we were 7/8 years old we'd beg him to press it and it would speed up 10mph. I got my license in 2011, immediately took that car onto the highway and pressed the S button.<p>Nothing happened. I went home and read the manual. S stand for sport. It keeps the engine in a higher gear than normal for quicker response
The goal of concept to aircraft in 36 months is admirable. Anduril recently built a jet in a similar timeframe. In the US at least, the last 30 years after defense industry consolidation has caused great stagnation. The F-35 took over a decade and went monstrously over budget, more as a jobs program than as a functional product. Competition showing they can build a jet faster and cheaper is what we need to kick the DoD into gear with the large contractors.
The DoD changing its mind several times did not do the F-35 project any favors
Yup, while I'm sure that part of it is that the big players got used to this modus operandi, part of it it just your client not knowing what they want. I work for a financial institution, I see this everyday. Our IT partners just have to wait for our ill-conceived and ill-defined tickets and changes of priorities, keep track of the tickets and the money keeps flowing by itself. I know the analogy isn't perfect, but still.<p>Hats off to Anduril for shaking up the space. Wonder if the Swedes will be able to match them.
Block 4's still an absolute shit-show in terms of management and progress...
Industry and wealth transfer and job creation programs have different goals. Congress is at odds with efficient industries.
F-35 took nearly 3 decades.<p>As it stands US tech companies don't want to do high volume low cost drones, so ukraine will likely end up doing it and become the supplier for other countries.
> Competition showing they can build a jet faster and cheaper is what we need to kick the DoD into gear with the large contractors.<p>The problem is, will there be enough of a demand? Part of why military procurement programs are stretched so long now is because the hot war that these things might be used in (aka, an all out direct war with Russia or China) is... increasingly unrealistic, but at the same time the US (or EU) still have to maintain the know-how, <i>and</i> we don't need hundreds or thousands of unit which makes the unit price including R&D extremely high.
how about a 2-door 900 turbo revival?
With the bare minimum of modern electronics. The dream.
I'd be happier with a 9-3t (small t not large T) redo.<p>But nooo, SAAB sold their auto division to GM in 2005.
my goodness how i miss mine!
Rare moment on HN where I can share that I had a 9-3 Viggen. Such a wonderful car, wish I didn’t need to sell at the time.
I would be willing to try a Saab 4dr EV...<p>Or just bring the 9-3 Turbo back!
I'm surprised <i>manned</i> aircraft are getting so much money/attention. I suppose you could fly them remotely too though (but pricey for a drone).
The article says this one is autonomous
is it manned? I assumed autonomous means unmanned?<p>“Saab has unveiled its A3 collaborative combat aircraft concept—an <i>autonomous</i>, tailless, supersonic, double-delta-wing air vehicle”
I'm betting that High-End Concept will win the race over Saab.
those kids don't stand a chance against such an epic aircraft
If we're going to expend time and effort on finding new and exciting ways to destroy other members of our species, it might be worth noting that the major change in battles over the last decade seems to have been flooding the zone with cheap, micro-to-small drones, not something like this.<p>That being said, perhaps we find something more productive to do with our time as humans?
All of the current conflicts (russia / ukraine, us / iran) would consider drones as a nuisance if:<p>#1. For russia / ukraine neither side has air superiority. If one side had it, they could be obliterating the other side with a constant stream of 500 lb gravity bombs. Each of which has more explosives than 100 drones.<p>#2. For us / iran, the US is unwilling to risk any pilots. And iran has some air defenses in place. The US could drop bombs from up close, gravity mk-82's and jdams every hour for months. Currently they are using standoff weapons which are either minimally effective (drones) or crazy expensive (Tomohawk, Standard Missile, etc.)<p>One B1 gets shot down, and 4 crew get paraded around in downtown Tehran, and what little support trump has will vanish.<p>What am I trying to say? Drones have a place. They don't obsolete anything. The key is to have the weapons available to meet the time in which they are needed.
Be careful that you're not able to fight the next war because all your effort is working on solving the problems of the past war when your enemy has found a better way around it.<p>It would be nice if humans could find ways to not kill each other, but the reality is humans have a very poor track record and you would be a fool to not put at least some effort into defending yourself.
> not something like this<p>When all you make are hammers, all your enemies look like nails.
You can't fly a micro drone thousands of km's
should've made nice cars instead T_T