Sweden is coming on strong with its military. It’s a new NATO member and its air force has been assigned an important air policing role around NATO’s northern borders. The Saab JAS 39 Gripen has entered the conversation as one of the best 4.5-generation airplanes in the world.
While it sometimes loses out to the F-35 on the export market, the JAS 39 Gripen is still one tough customer that places the Swedes in the upper tier when it comes to producing homegrown fighter jets.
JAS 39 For the Win Falcon Strike Exercise Is Shot Heard Round the World
And for that problem, well, the JAS 39 has a new enemy: China’s Air Force.
That’s why the aerospace world perked up its ears last summer during a simulation that pitted the Gripen against the Chinese Air Force.
This time, the JAS 39 Gripen was flown by the Royal Thai Air Force in a joint exercise with China’s Shenyang J-11 aircraft that are derived from Su-27s. This drill was called “Falcon Strike.”
The Chinese must have wished it never happened because they were dominated by Thai pilots who pushed their Gripens to their limits. The Thai aviators taught a master class to the Chinese about beyond-visual-range aerial combat.
JAS 39 Gripens Showed Long-range Dominance
When flying beyond 18 miles, the Thai Gripens were effective against the J-11 a noteworthy 88 percent of the time. Forty-one People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) fighters were shot down at a loss of only nine Gripens.
That’s a four-to-one ratio.
The Chinese were flummoxed, and their lack of combat experience showed. You have to give credit to the Gripen, too, as it shows it is a world-class fighter jet.
The PLAAF definitely has some work to do. The J-11s must be having problems with their sensors and radars.
There is no way the Gripen should have that much success against the Chinese fighters.
The Americans Were Probably Delighted to See the PLAAF Struggle
The United States likely watched this unfold with glee. The Americans always knew that the PLAAF aviators had not fought in real combat, but they didn’t know the under-rated Thais could bring the fight in a simulation so effectively.
The Gripens were reportedly armed with AIM-120 AMRAAMs and that’s an air-to-air missile that the Americans love. This shows the U.S. munitions may be trouble for Chinese pilots.
Was it Pilot Quality and Airplane Quality?
So, is this about the quality of pilots or the quality of airplanes? The answer is somewhere in the middle.
The Thais are not known for being world-class aviators and one must assume that the PLAAF has certainly improved on pilot training since the days when some Chinese refused to fly during night-time or in bad weather.
The more likely reason for the success was the quality of the Gripen’s weapons tracking and targeting system that can take on multiple enemy airplanes at once. The AMRAAM’s accuracy is important here plus its guidance system is top-notch to acquire these simulated “kills.”
This is not the first time that Gripens have enjoyed success during battle drills. Stefan Englund, a former flight engineer with the Swedish Air Force, had much to say about Gripen combat performance in exercises. The Gripen has dominated in simulations going back to 2006.
“And no disrespect to any other fighters, including Norwegian pilots because they’re just as well trained, but during a combat exercise with the Royal Norwegian Air Force, 3 Swedish Gripens went up against 5 RNAF F-16’s. The Result was 5-0, 5-0, 5-1 after having flown 3 rounds,” Englund said.
“During Loyal Arrow in Sweden, 3 F-15C’s from the USAF were intercepted by a Gripen acting as an aggressor. The result was 2 F-15’s shot down and one managed to escape due to better thrust/weight. To the F-15s defense it was on the Gripen’s backyard.”
That’s great performance by the Gripen and it shows that this non-stealth 4.5-generation fighter is one of the best in the world for its class.
The only thing holding the Gripen back on the export market is the lack of full-stealth capabilities.
It seems that it dogfights well in drills and could someday give the F-35 a run for its money on the export market.
Would Canada Buy the JAS 39 Gripen?
Indeed, Canada is reconsidering its latest order for 88 F-35s and the deal with the Americans for the Lightning II is under review due to Canadian distrust of the Trump administration’s badgering rhetoric and tariffs.
Canada could perhaps cancel the entire F-35 batch and order Gripens instead based on their aerial exploits in simulated battles.
Canada is aware of how the Americans have conducted “fighter plane diplomacy” with the F-35 over the years. Nineteen countries are a part of the global F-35 program. But the Swedes are known for biding their time and will let the results in combat simulations speak for themselves.
This means the Gripen could become a top choice for more countries and that would be just fine with Saab and the Swedish military.
JAS 39 Gripen: A Story in Photos
Sweden’s JAS 39. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
JAS 39. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Sweden’s JAS 39 Fighter. Image: Creative Commons.
A Swedish JAS-39 Gripen returns to the play areas of the Arctic Challenge exercise Sept. 24, 2013, over Norway, after taking on fuel from a U.S. Air Force KC-135R Stratotanker. The JAS-39, in coordination with aircraft from other nations, formed a Blue assault force, which had to bypass or neutralize an opposing Red force attempting to stop them from an overall objective outlined in the day’s scenario. (U.S. Air Force photo by 1st Lt. Christopher Mesnard/Released)
About the Author: Dr. Brent M. Eastwood
Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Don’t Turn Your Back On the World: a Conservative Foreign Policy and Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare plus two other books. Brent was the founder and CEO of a tech firm that predicted world events using artificial intelligence. He served as a legislative fellow for U.S. Senator Tim Scott and advised the senator on defense and foreign policy issues. He has taught at American University, George Washington University, and George Mason University. Brent is a former U.S. Army Infantry officer. He can be followed on X @BMEastwood.
