this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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Yes, this is designed to work with absolutely minimal infrastructure and very few trained personnel, very much unlike the F-16, which requires sophisticated equipment, not to mention hydrazine, which is truly nasty stuff and cannot be handled in the field.
Gripen is what Ukraine desperately needs. You can literally refuel and re-arm it at the roadside in a forest with three trucks and 6 people, 5 of which can be conscripts.
That's incredible.
Edit: I can't believe we went with the F-35 instead of our own domestic Gripen supply chain. I get what Ottawa was thinking, but I think history will show putting yet more eggs in the America basket was dumb.
Gripens may not be the best (and nowadays not the most modern) jets, but that was one of the design features Sweden took as a reason to develop their own jet.
The theoretical possibility of getting invaded and losing their primary infrastructure (being a rather neutral country up to their application for NATO last year...) was a reason they wanted a jet with good short-field performance that can be easily supplied by dispersed small bases.
They basically started designing a jet 50 years ago exactly for today's Ukraine scenario. Being invaded and only getting limited international support because neighbours (and NATO members) would stop at measures that would make them a direct participant in that war.
This became the Viggen (development actually started over 60 years ago), with some help from the US, especially for the engine, which is basically a P&W JT8D with afterburner. Still a very impressive STOL-capable Mach-2 fighter jet, one of the very few with thrust reversers.
The Gripen is the 4th-gen successor, with much of the original design parameters retained, but with modern "relaxed stability"-aerodynamics for higher agility, and digital avionics.