you are probably familiar with famous
fighter jets like f-16 falcon or f-22
raptor
globally these multi-role combat jets
are well known for their superior
features and offensive capabilities
but have you ever heard of the saab
jas-39 gripen
though not as famous as its u.s
counterpart the swedish fighter jet
should not be underestimated when it
comes to systems and capacity
well how amazing is it really
hello everyone welcome back to another
episode of military tv
in today's episode we will take a look
at the swedish saab
jas-39 gripen a swedish multi-role
combat airplane
for more interesting information on this
topic don't go anywhere and stay tuned
manufactured by the swedish aerospace
and defense company saab a b
jas 39 gripen is a light single-engine
multi-role combat aircraft in service
with the swedish air force
the gripen features a delta wing which
is a wing shaped in the form of a
triangle
it also has a canard configuration with
negative stability design and
fly-by-wire flight system replacing the
conventional manual flight controls with
an electronic interface by 2020 more
than 200 gripens of various models a2f
have been developed
first let's dig into the history of the
jas-39 gripen
the development of jas-39 gripen began
when sweden sought to build new fighters
to replace its aging saab 35 draken and
saab 37 vigin in the late 1970s
for a defensive dispersed basing plan in
the case of invasion the swedish air
force needed a cheap mach 2 aircraft
with good short field performance
the concept included 800 meter long by
17 meter wide primitive runways from the
base 90 system
one goal was to make the plane smaller
than the vigin while maintaining or
increasing its payload range performance
the saab 38 also known as the b3la was
proposed as an attack aircraft and
trainer and the a-20 a modification of
the vigin was proposed as a fighter
attack and maritime reconnaissance
aircraft the general dynamics f-16
fighting falcon the mcdonnell douglas f
a-18 hornet and the northrop f-20 tiger
shark were among the foreign designs
which were studied and taken as
references
in 1979 the swedish government commenced
a study for an all-around platform
capable of jas
which stands for aerial warfare close
air support as well as reconnaissance
indicating multi-role capabilities to
satisfy various roles during missions
a number of saab designs were
reconsidered with project 2105 being the
most favorable recommended to the
government by the defense material
administration
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then in the 1980s the industrial arm of
the swedish armed forces consisting of
several big corporations like saab
scania lm ericsson and volvo flag motor
established the jas industry group as a
joint venture
the gripen was first rolled out by saab
on april 26 1987 at the company's 50th
anniversary
the first flight on december 9 1988 was
actually delayed by 18 months due to
some issues with the flight control
system
problems concerning the aircraft's
avionics particularly the fly-by-wire
flight control system fcs and the
relaxed stability design appeared during
the test program
this problem caused the prototype to
crash during an attempted landing at
linkoping on february 2nd 1989
with the test pilot large ride strum
surviving with a broken elbow
pilot-induced oscillation was determined
as the cause of the crash which was
caused by issues with the fcs's pitch
control routine following the crash the
saab and u.s firm calspan introduced
software-related modifications to the
aircraft
a partnership agreement between saab
military aircraft and british aerospace
was announced during the 1995 paris air
show this cooperation between the two
will form the joint venture company saab
bae gripen a b with the purpose of
adapting producing marketing and
supporting gripen at the international
level the partnership also involves the
transfiguration of the a and b series
aircraft to the export cnd series which
encouraged the gripens compatibility
with the standard of nato
now let's take a look at the design and
features embedded in the jas 39 gripen
one thing that probably differentiates
gripen from the rest of the four plus
generation fighters on the market is its
small size along with the low cost
required to operate this aircraft
even though it's difficult to calculate
the fly-away cost the gripen reportedly
had the government spend less than 60
million dollars gripen also boasted its
low operational cost probably the lowest
of any modern fighter jets
for its physical specs the gripen could
take off at a maximum of sixteen
thousand five hundred kilograms and is
able to accelerate up to mach 2.
notable for its super cruise ability
gripen has a range of approximately 1
500 kilometers
for either beyond visual range missile
bvr and dogfighting combatants gripen is
surely at the top of its class
the gripen has a reputation for being
user-friendly with simple displays and a
straightforward interface in terms of
lethality the gripen was the first
fighter in the world to carry the lethal
meteor air-to-air missile a beyond
visual range bvr weapon capable of
tracking and killing targets up to 80
miles away
the gripen sea is capable of carrying
four meteor missiles while the gripen e
is capable of carrying seven
another interesting aspect of the gripen
is the addition of dedicated electronic
warfare pods to the gripen's already
allegedly formidable onboard gaming
capabilities according to saab this is
probably the most advanced ew suite
carried by a fighter making the gripen a
valuable commodity for suppression or
destruction of enemy air defense dead
missions
lastly now let's take a look at the
operational history of the aircraft
a total of 204 gripens were ordered by
the swedish air force in three batches
the first delivery was made to the fly
vachmanette on june 8 1993 during a
ceremony in linkoping the last of the
first batch was sent on december 13
1996.
the first batch 2 sample was delivered
to the air force on december 19 1996.
the gripen has been exported to hungary
the czech republic thailand brazil and
south africa by saab
finland canada colombia botswana croatia
india indonesia and the philippines are
among the countries that have expressed
interest with another dozen or so
countries indicating some interest
saab has been generally receptive to
technology transfer and has made it
easier for local companies to
participate in the production process of
some components
this has made the gripen an interesting
option for governments who struggle to
explain where they spent the money to
the skeptical public
because of the involvement of british
aerospace systems the united kingdom has
an effective veto over the gripens
export
argentina has been unable to obtain the
aircraft as a result of this
on the other hand in the instance of
switzerland the gripen was caught up in
the ongoing court case against
right-wing agitator julian assange as
his supporters rallied against a
referendum that would have authorized
the swiss air force to buy 22 fighter
jets
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