What is the safest fighter today ?

Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (Auto-GCAS) systems improves safety during peacetime training. 

https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/f-35-incorporate-automatic-ground-colli…

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. So, 2 crashes and 3 known fire incidents. At least one of those fire accidents was a Class A incident, with the airplane repairs costing more than $2 million. Not an airframe loss.

link

3 incidents (Gripen has had several as well) but none of which led to total airframe loss.

With over 400 delivered and over 200,000 flight hours as of June 2019, the F-35 fleet has a superb safety record overall. The fleet has only grown since then and more flight hours have been added. I would believe it is the safest fighter out there, despite being single engine.

Having said that, all the modern 4th gen fighters are quite safe. Typhoon, Rafale, Gripen, Su-30, etc.

Sometimes a crash is not because the fighter is unsafe but rather because of bird hits. G-LOC is another issue that is being tackled in some of the newest variants of jets.

Also in South Carolina a F-35A went down…and two others burned on a tarmac.

Should be the F-35. Only 1 crash so far I believe, with a Japanese F-35 and it was a fatal crash.

Gripen has a lot more crashes overall, 9 as per the link below. The most recent being the fatal Thai AF Gripen crash in 2017.

Accidents and incidents involving Gripen

Gripen has had 9 hull loss incidents as of 2017.  Only 1 death but 9 aircraft losses.  So on Class A mishaps, it definitely isn’t the safest.

Is Gripen the safest then ?

Any estimate of the hours logged with Gripens ?

Somebody fudged a decimal point 😉 :stupid:

As of Feb 1st, 2019 it was at 177,000 flight hours.

https://a855196877272cb14560-2a4fa819a63ddcc0c289f9457bc3ebab.ssl.cf2.rackcdn.com/13567/lockheed_martin_f-35_fast_facts_-_february_2019_.pdf

Yes thank you.

https://www.safety.af.mil/Divisions/Aviation-Safety-Division/Aviation-Statistics/

Great data. Even though the F-35 safety record so far is one thing you can say has been a rousing success, I think there may be an error in the hours flown? 16 million hours in FY17, and 22 million hours in FY18, seem a bit high…

4 deaths in 400,000 flying hours is pretty good. The RAF have had none in 150,000 flying hours. All but 1 death was down to the pilot.

I am surprised that the Eurofighter Typhoon has not been mentioned, I have never seen the Typhoon in Air Forces Monthly’s Attrition pages in all the years that it has been flying.

Probably has not been mentioned as there have been around 4 fatal accidents with the Typhoon including Saudi, Italian, Spanish (2), and additional write offs by various air forces flying them. Wiki has a good summary of the accidents.

I am surprised that the Eurofighter Typhoon has not been mentioned, I have never seen the Typhoon in Air Forces Monthly’s Attrition pages in all the years that it has been flying.

There has been only one F-35 loss out of the 350 or so built in the last 12 years with no deaths. Not a bad record all considered, bearing in mind the conditions some F-35s fly in. I can think of some other aircraft which have a much worse record.

Gripen displays one fatal accident; https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/dblist.php?AcType=SB39

USAF Safety Center website lists accident statistics for USAF aircraft.

Yes thank you.

https://www.safety.af.mil/Divisions/Aviation-Safety-Division/Aviation-Statistics/

USAF Safety Center website lists accident statistics for USAF aircraft.