[sukhoi-30mki]

[Spirochete]

"In my opinion, the JSF is not [a fighter], it’s a bomb truck," not well-suited to the aerial dogfighting role, Kemp said in an interview at the air show.

Thats why its labeled a *strike* fighter.

[Old Seadog]

Gripen fighter jet

[Glenn]

joint strike fighter

The competition of ideas always breeds a best of class.

When you agree on everything, everything is compromised.

[Seruzawa]

Ummmmm... if you change your attack plane to be competitive in dogfighting then it’s no longer an attack plane! Jeeez. That’s why you use fighters to escort the attack squadrons. Cripes. This guy’s supposed to be ab expert?

[CCGuy]

The Gripen is a nice airframe with some good capabilities, but saying it is a better choice than an F-35 is really silly.

First, its lack of stealth is a death sentence. 15 - 20 years from now if you don’t have stealth ability you will not be able to enter most combat environments except on suicide missions. The advantage of being able to pick your fights and surprise the enemy is overwhelming.

Second, the F-35 will have a much larger industry behind it with a lot more funding so it will be upgraded continually with even more capable avionics and weapons. Much more so than the Gripen.

Third, the brilliant system layout of the airframe will make operation and maintenace much cheaper and that is what really costs you the most over the life of an aircraft.

It is a good airframe, but I don’t even think the author really believes this could happen. We heard this same type of talk when the F-16 was new and everybody ended up buying it and they still are.

I have been all over the world and the militaries of the world have great respect for American weapon systems.

[Yo-Yo]

The Gripen is not in the same class as the F-35 or the F/A-18E/F.

The JAS-39 is a lightweight multirole fighter with a max takeoff weight of 39,000lbs. the F-35 is a medium fighter with a max takeoff weight of 60,000lbs, and the F/A-18E/F has a max takeoff weight of 66,000lbs.

[PAR35]

Saab, the Swedish industrial conglomerate better known in the U.S. for performance cars than airplanes

Saab cars are made by GM. I think the aircraft maker does make midsized and large trucks.

[Textide]

What is it with Europeans and canards? Pretty airplanes though.

The Eurofighter...

Gripen...

[Cacique]

btt

[WesternCulture]

The Gripen is a very versatile, very able and very advanced fighter plane.

It is marketed using the slogan

“More bang for the buck”

Perhaps, these words sums it all up in an apposite manner.

JAS promotion video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-3MACYJ5AI

Swedish engineering!