Sure, in an ideal world they'd use Gripens instead of F-16s but in our actual world, where there are about 15 times as many F-16s as there are Gripens, availability matters more than fit.

[–] Candelestine@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Ideal and actual are drifting a little closer together after Sweden dangling their recent offer.

Ukraine can only work with so many F-16s, if we somehow gave them 50,000, you would not see large wings of them flying Ukrainian skies, because the planes and pilots just aren't enough. There's a whole infrastructure around them that is completely necessary and that takes years to build up.

So, don't get me wrong. F-16s are great and I'm glad they're going, but they are not a viable solution to Ukrainian problems. They'll help some. The Grippen could be an actual solution, even in fairly small numbers due to its highly unique capabilities.