[Music]
sweden is a small
country but its military industry is one
of the best
in the world just remember the a26
electric submarine but that's a topic
for another video today
we're going to be showing you the new
swedish fighter jet
which should curb russian ardor in the
scandinavian region
like lockheed martin saab has pioneered
military aviation
except they did so on swedish soil after
the introduction of the second
generation sab 35 drakken supersonic
fighter
and the third generation saab 37 viggen
the country had a need for an affordable
fighter that could reach
mach 2. engineers were asked to reduce
the size of the vigin
while improving its performance
especially the payload
one of the proposals was a saab 38
but that project would take a while to
get off
the drawing board the mcdonald douglas
fa-18 hornet
and northrop f-20 tiger shark were seen
as
model aircraft swedish engineers were
often inspired by the work of their
american colleagues when developing
their fighters
the very abbreviation jas
jacked air to air attack air to surface
and spanning reconnaissance was not
chosen at random
since this was the aircraft's very task
the most promising idea was project 2105
which was the basis for the future
fighter
nevertheless many changes were made in
the development process
so project 2105 eventually became
project 2108 and then
project 2110 in 1982
the project was funded the authorities
signed a contract with
industriopen jas to build a new fighter
and
five jas-39 prototypes
followed by the purchase of 30 aircraft
in the first batch
the first prototype was revealed in 1987
and its first flight was scheduled to
take place at the same time
but it was postponed until 1988
after which the gripen finally took to
the skies
but fate was not on the prototype side
a few months after the first flight an
error occurred in the fly-by-wire
software
which coupled with strong winds led to
an accident
the pilot managed to eject with only
minor scratches
by 1991 saab had solved all avionics and
software problems by
successfully testing new gripen
prototypes
amid this the authorities bought a
second batch of fighters
and in 1993 the first production model
jas-39a was produced
sweden put it into service in 1996
the aircraft was designed with the
canard
aerodynamic with the horizontal wingtip
in front of the main wing on the gripen
the triangular wing is placed in the
middle and the airframe of the fighter
consisting of 60 thousand parts is
designed with reduced radar visibility
in mind composite materials account for
30 percent
of all materials which allowed the
engineers to increase the aircraft
service life
by up to 50 years considering the design
features of the fighter the specialists
had to think about how to
increase the fighter's maneuverability
due to the shift of the aerodynamic
focus
backward from the center of mass there
could be
problems with controllability to solve
this
problem the latest fly-by-wire
propulsion system
was used for safety reasons a mechanical
control system
accompanied it the predecessors of the
gripen e-series
included the jas-39c
version upgraded to nato standards
with updated avionics and expanded
ammunition and air refueling
capabilities
and the jas 39d a
two-seat version of the jas-39
designed for training flights and
specific missions
apart from the basic modifications there
were also
less typical versions of this swedish
fighter that were released
for example the gripen aggressor is a
cheaper version of the jas-39c
designed to be unarmed to simulate enemy
fighters during combat training
the grip in maritime is a special
version
of the jas-39e for
aircraft carriers and one of the most
promising projects is the gripen ucav
an unmanned version of the jas 39e
development of the gripen e fighter
began
in 2013. the country allocated about two
billion dollars for the first three
prototypes
and mass production was scheduled to
start in 2019
the same year the company conducted the
first
flight of the new fighter jet the total
production volume was set
at 400 to 500 aircraft for the swedish
air force
and other countries around the world
many experts
argue however that the e-series was
originally produced with the aim of
attracting foreign customers
the main difference between the jas-39e
and the jas 39c and d
models is the increased survivability
this isn't the end of the e-series
advantages though
the gripen not only got its range
improved by
increasing its fuel supply to 7500
pounds
but also had its payload significantly
increase
at a whopping 11 200 pounds
the dimensions of the aircraft were also
increased
its length is now 49 feet versus the 46
feet on
earlier models and its empty weight is
now
1763 pounds
versus the earlier 14 991 pounds
production and flight hour costs are
about
four thousand dollars per hour versus
the f-16s
seven thousand to eight thousand dollars
and
the gripen has been and remains one of
the most cost-effective fighters
available today in 2015 sab
announced an increase in demand for the
gripen from european nations
amid growing aggression from russia and
tensions on the russian ukrainian border
swedish defense ministry officials
supported the sabb bid for the hx
fighter
in finland this winter saying that the
gripen fighter
would ensure cooperation between the
countries
in case of an attack from russia the
swedish defense minister
also added that the security situation
around the baltic sea
has deteriorated blaming the russian
military
and calling cooperation between nordic
countries a prerequisite for preventing
aggressive actions by moscow their focus
would be on sweden and finland as
potential points of invasion
by russian troops the swedish air force
has stated that their gripen e is a
black belt in air combat compared to the
suhoy fighters
such as for example the 4th generation
su-35 fighters while
sweden's counterparts in the united
states are spending millions of dollars
on stealth technology due to limited
funds
swedish engineers have focused on a
cheaper approach
to fighting russian fighters focusing on
electronic attack and software
modification
capabilities according to the experts
this gives the planes an advantage over
stealth
one of the key factors playing a role in
the convenience of exporting the model
was the updated
software it allows the fighter's
functionality to be
improved by installing software
solutions without affecting the main
operating system
the modular software installations is
reminiscent of
installing apps on a smartphone if
any program fails it won't cause
problems for the entire operating system
that controls critical onboard equipment
that is you can simply disable it
without damaging the entire system
in addition to an effective electronic
warfare system
the gripen e will be able to fire almost
all types of missiles produced in the us
and europe such as the meteor air-to-air
missile
currently considered one of the most
effective countermeasures against
russian jamming missiles if we talk
about the swedish griffin's
rival fighter from the u.s side we could
take the
f-15e strike eagle the only head-to-head
encounter between these two fighters was
a
large loyal arrow exercise in which the
f-15c
acted as the aggressor in the end the
gripen managed to shoot down
two f-15cs while the third
escaped due to better weights and thrust
characteristics
as for performance the competition
between the
f-15e and the swedish fighter depends
directly
on what the emphasis is on in terms of
avionics and simplicity and most
importantly
cheap maintenance the gripen would be a
good choice
but is there any point in saving on
flight hours
if you end up with worse speed payload
and armament in the gripen than the f15e
in terms of military power the amr
aam and sidewinder missiles used by the
silent
eagle are superior to the gripens meteor
and irist in every way
this is not to mention the fact that the
f-15 has
many years of experience in actual
warfare
while its swedish counterpart collects
dust
in the hangar occasionally undergoing
flight tests
and trials what do you think
of this swedish fighter jet what feature
impressed you the most
be sure to tell us in the comments also
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