See This Fighter Jet? It Might Be the Best on the Planet (For the Money)

Dave Majumdar

Security,

Forget the F-35?

The E/F variant adds greater range and payload capability while vastly improving the Gripens’ avionics. Perhaps the most important feature is the new British-built Selex Raven ES-05 active electronically scanned array radar, which replaces the old mechanically-scanned PS-05/A. The Gripen also has comprehensive networking capabilities. The new Gripen’s maximum takeoff weight is increased to more than 36,000lbs up from around 31,000lbs for the C/D variant.

While complex high-end jet fighters like the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon dominate the headlines when it comes to the global fighter market, not every country needs or even wants a top-of-the-line warplane. While some nations—particularly those that have poor relations with the West—might opt for Russian or Chinese-built machines, there is a sizeable market for lower cost alternatives. It is this market that Sweden’s Saab JAS-39 Gripen dominates.

(This first appeared in 2015.)

The JAS-39 is an excellent low cost fourth-generation fighter. Originally developed in Sweden the 1980s—part of the that nation’s efforts at maintaining a neutral foreign policy stance—the Nordic machine is designed to be relatively cheap, easy to maintain and fight off any potential aggressor.

Those traits have made the Gripen an attractive prospect for many nations including Brazil, South Africa, Czech Republic, Hungary and Thailand. More countries—deterred by the outrageous price tags of rival machines—are likely to jump onboard the Gripen bandwagon as more advanced derivatives of the Swedish jet enter production. Croatia, Finland and Bulgaria are but a few possibilities as they begin to look for replacements for ageing hardware.