Pros and cons of developing an indigenous fighter aircraft

Pros
– make exactly what you want
– be independent of foreign suppliers and the pressures they can exert
– create jobs
– may earn some money by export

Cons
– probably cost you a lot more money than buying off-the-shelf
– may end up buying hugely expensive fighters but inferior to foreign competitors

Small to mid-sized countries like the Netherlands, Poland and Czechoslovakia could equip its air force with mostly indigenous fighter types in the 1930’s. But since the 1940’s, Sweden has been the only small country to successively deploy fighter types of their own to date. With ever-rising costs for research and development, this exception may soon cease to exist and I am afraid our air force and defence industry are foolhardily trying to do something already proved unworthy by many others.

I’d appreciate if anyone could enlighten me if the Dutch had ever toyed with the idea of developing an indigenous _JET_ fighter after WW2 and if there had been a voice within the IDF or defence industry that called for more Kfir fighters instead of importing more American ones.

Cheers,
Sunho