TT - If you can find me another example of a combat aircraft that was planned to have lower operating costs than its predecessor and has delivered on those promises, out with it, man!
I would say that the Gripen is the exception to the rule, Good for the Gripen! and since no one else has done that, maybe we can stop acting like the F-35 is such a bizarre anomaly when it is pretty much the worldwide norm? Even you admit that no one else has done that, and that it is truly exceptional and that given the way the US Government/industry/military are run, it probably never will happen.
So lets concede that the Gripen is and will always be the only fighter that does that, and move on shall we?
Pardon me if I am favorably impressed by an industry, civil government and military that consistently ran at least third in developing and fielding technology in the Cold War (that is, behind the superpowers), that ran the Gripen A/B/C/D program on fixed-price R&D contracts, and that closed out the initial phase of C/D with the contractor returning cash to the government.
And good onto the Gripen. If only the rest of the world were Swedens but they aren't. Sweden also has different military priorities along with different economics, populations, traditions, territorial size, climates, etc.
If only the most economical aircraft was the best, but money is not the only measure of an aircraft. The F-22 is terrifyingly expensive, but I dare say it would annihilate any Gripens it encountered. Gripens would be Cheap though... very economical bulls eyes.
You pay in other areas, like what the Swiss were saying about it, and the fact that again, its a LIGHT fighter, the range isn't much to brag about either. If the US wanted the Gripen, it would have bought the F-20. But we decided that it really wasn't for us, and stuck with the F-16. Pretty happy with that, too.
So you could say
"Two Nations With Smaller Populations Than Mid-Sized US States To Operate Supercruising, Net-Enabled, Sensor Fused Fighter Before JSF IOC"
I take it as:
"After 14 years in service 90's era Gripen finally approaches 21 century requirements, sells NG to a two small Neutral countries that can't afford actual 21st century stealth aircraft"
Two sides to every story I guess. Remember when the Gripen had to hover, land on a carrier, be stealthy, and be developed internationally too with order requirements in the thousands? Me either
The USMC alone will be using more F-35s than all the Gripens of any mark produced or ordered combined. So apples and bowling ball comparison again. So the might Gripen can't even out do the Manly Corps in exports. (Still very good for a second-tier defensive fighter.)
What I took exception to, is you and a lot of other people complaining that the JSF still hasn't reached IOC when other aircraft have, and for some reason people can't comprehend that an aircraft that was developed decades earlier got into service before the aircraft being developed now. Its called a "head start" here in the States, apparently its unknown everywhere else.
Moreover, the JSF standards are higher, the highest in aviation history I believe and even you admit that it is an exceptionally different challenge (you would say near impossible in fact) than developing a light F404 equipped fighter (we did that way back in 1982), and jamming an AESA into it 11 years later. Hooray Sweden!! Good for you! welcome to the 80's!!
And Finally, and this is important the NG isn't supposed to be available until 2020!!
So this:
"Two Nations With Smaller Populations Than Mid-Sized US States To Operate Supercruising, Net-Enabled, Sensor Fused Fighter Before JSF IOC"
could be absolutely untrue as it is.
LowObservable said:
Mind you, I can see how a LockMart shill and an advocate for monopoly corporate socialism would regard this concept as subversive and dangerous.
oh such abuse. You covered that already BTW. Can we stop beating that horse? We get it. You don't like lockmart, whole sections of the US military, and the way the US runs fighter programs because they disagree with your personal preferences.