The JAS 39 Gripen Fighter Has 1 Problem It Never Saw Coming

Key Points: Despite being a capable and cost-effective fighter, the Saab JAS 39 Gripen has faced limited export success, often losing competitions to US aircraft like the F-16 and F-35.

-This analysis, citing historical examples (a blocked Viggen sale to India) and recent lost bids (Slovakia, Bulgaria, Czechia), argues US influence significantly hinders Gripen sales.

JAS 39 Gripen. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

-Washington reportedly leverages political pressure or control over US-made components within the Gripen (like its GE engine) to favor American jets.

-Gripen tends to succeed primarily when customer nations prioritize deep industrial cooperation and technology transfer over simply buying fighters, as seen in Brazil’s purchase.

Why Have There Not Been More Export Sales for the JAS 39 Gripen?

It was 1978, and company executives at Saab were ready for a big celebration. After an arduous set of negotiations with India, the Swedish aerospace company was preparing for the Southwest Asian nation to purchase a tranche of JA 37 Viggen fighter jets. 

The original deal had called for some 40 of the aircraft to be purchased off-the-shelf from Sweden, with 120 additional units to be license-built in India by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. “Champagne was on ice and the foreign marketing team was ready to pop the cork,” said one long-time and now retired Saab employee who was present at the time.

Then came the bad news. Washington refused to issue an export license for the American-designed RM8/JT8D jet engine, as well as other American technologies in the Viggen’s set of on-board systems. The sale was off.

Opinions vary as to why the U.S. blocked the deal, but one issue at the time was the potential for export deals involving the U.S. F-16, which was a brand-new program at the time.

“The powers-that-be in Washington,” explained the same retired Saab employee, “did not want another fighter jet out there competing with the U.S. jet.”

Competition could harm the extensive plans the U.S. had for the F-16 to replace the F-104 Starfighter aircraft in service with U.S. allies, among other models in use around the world at that time.

The Decision Is Always Made in Washington for JAS 39 Gripen

The event set the tone for the Swedish firm’s efforts to sell fighters and is frequently told by company representatives when a sale of the JAS 39 Gripen fails to materialize in a promising market.

“More than one country that needs a fighter with the cheaper acquisition price and the lower cost that the Gripen offers ends up buying a U.S.-made aircraft instead,” said one Saab spokesperson at Le Bourget in 2023.

JAS 39 Gripen. Image Credit: Creative Commons.

More recent examples would be JAS 39 Gripen campaigns in Slovakia, Bulgaria, and Czechia. Saab had spent years establishing offices and setting up business arrangements with local firms in those nations—and in the case of Czechia, that nation’s air force had already flown the JAS 39C/D version of the fighter for 20 years and should have been a shoo-in for a Gripen E/F procurement.

Nonetheless, the Slovaks and Bulgarians decided to procure the F-16V Block 70/72, and the Czechs decided to join the club of nations acquiring the F-35.

Made in USA Always Seems to Win

“The pressure that the U.S. can bring to bear in these situations is just too much to overcome in many instances,” the same Saab spokesperson said. “We have more than one time seen that the final decision on the sale of a Gripen to an export customer is a decision that is made in Washington. They often get to decide whether or not we will be ‘allowed’ to make a deal with one nation or another. The nation actually buying the airplane gets out-voted.”

Export Sales v. Industrial Base Decisions

This equation is one that can sometimes change, depending on the circumstances of the customer-nation involved, added the same Saab representative. In the case of Brazil, the Gripen won a fighter tender in 2014 “because the FAB (Brazilian Air Force) were not just buying a fighter for their own use,” he explained.

“This was an industrial base decision. They were not just building airplanes—they were building another facet of their industry.”

What was important to the Brazilians was the benefit of having a final assembly line for the Gripen operated by Embraer, Brazil’s national aerospace conglomerate and the third-largest aircraft firm in the world.

Embraer’s long-term vision was for a production line that could manufacture all the aircraft Brazil required, plus have the possibility to build aircraft for other customers in the region, or even in Asia. No American firm could make a comparable offer.

Embraer’s cooperation with Saab evolved to include joint marketing and manufacturing of the Brazilian firm’s KC-390 cargo lifter and aerial refuelling aircraft, which was agreed to two years go.

The two companies continue to widen their cooperation on both programs. Recently they moved to create the Gripen Design and Development Network and the Gripen Flight Test Center, which were stood up after the final assembly line was established in Gavião Peixoto, in Brazil’s São Paulo state.

JAS 39 Gripen Is a Great Fighter with a Tough Problem 

Saab’s willingness to cooperate and agree to extensive technology transfers made the difference in the sale to Brazil.

Such scenarios are quite rare, making it challenging for the JAS 39 Gripen to win in numerous markets where countries are simply seeking a new fighter.

About the Author: 

Reuben F. Johnson is a survivor of the February 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and is an Expert on Foreign Military Affairs with the Fundacja im. Kazimierza Pułaskiego in Warsaw. He has been a consultant to the Pentagon, several NATO governments and the Australian government in the fields of defense technology and weapon systems design.  Over the past 30 years he has resided in and reported from Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Brazil, the People’s Republic of China and Australia.