[C19fan]

The person at the Daily Beast who came up with the headline is ignorant. There is nothing stealthy about the Swedish Gripen. That is why these and similar fighters, for example, the Eurofighter Typhoon, are called 4.5 generation aircraft. There is a good point about the Gripen being a viable cheaper alternative for most of the world's air force's needs given the costs of the F-35.

[edpc]

External hard points and stealth do not work well together.

[martin_fierro]

Here 'tis.

[tanknetter]

There’s been increased talk in recent years about active stealth (ie active radar cancellation measures). Most of it focused on the Rafale, but the small (F-5 sized) Gripen would be an excellent platform for such ...

[redcatcherb412]

Why spend untold billions on stealth technology when Boeing obviously with the 777 has built a commercial aircraft totally invisible to radar and visual detection. Maybe Boeing could just build a smaller version for the stealth fleet. /S

[zipper]

There is a good point about the Gripen being a viable cheaper alternative for most of the world's air force's needs given the costs of the F-35.

Yeah, like a block 52 F-16.

[mykroar]

Shamelessly stolen from JRios's post on last Friday's silliness thread:

[Axenolith]

Given the overall cost structure of modern combat aircraft VS the lowering of cost of miniturized components and software processing capability, I’m surprised that some entity hasn’t pitched stealth and speed aside for bulkier non-stealth platforms containing close engagement defense systems that are designed to defeat AA missiles on their terminal approaches.

[KoRn]

I’m probably being naive, but I’m still not sure why we even need the F-35, especially given the incredible cost. Aren’t they over a BILLION dollars EACH? We just simply can’t afford that!

Are our existing fighters not good enough? Do we even have any real air-to-air engagements anymore in the first place? Wasn’t Korea the last war we had where there were frequent ‘dogfights’? I know there were occasional air-to-air engagements in Vietnam, but it was nothing like Korea.

To me, the f-35 seems to be nothing more than a grand ‘Make Work’ Project. At least the money is being spent to produce something, assuming it would otherwise be wasted elsewhere anyway.

[Kenny Bunk]

....nothing stealthy about the Swedish Gripen.

Of course not. Those Third World customers like to see what the heck they are buying.

BTW, although not much stealth here, The Gripen is beautiful in a hip mod-av-design sort of way, a cross between French, NATO, Russki, Murkan, ideas and with one engine, probably gets good fuel mileage. (Yo Sven, make the canard bigger, and think about a racing stripe?)

Speaking of which, being sort of well ...small...isn't it going to need lots of external tanks and frequent refueling for those long trips? OK, but again, not "stealth."

[JimRed]

SAAB ought to include stealth tech in their autos. Being invisible to police radar is a plus!

;^)