And does Iraq currently need *any* of those types?

If you’re primarily concerned with loitering and dropping PGMs in permssive air environment, as Iraq will be for the next decade, a special-missions Gulfstream will do it all more cheaply and probably better. And with more ISAR kit onboard, plus a toilet and oven.

Hyper-expensive-per-hour fighters poddling around subsonic on account of big tanks and draggy munitions and having to bug-out of the fight due to fuel levels? Not sure I see the attraction.

I think Iraq’s mistake was wanting to be back in the fast-jet club.

This.

Unusually fast speed for a low level half roll- was it a FBW failure for this Gripen??

That really isn’t anything for us to speculate about. Just wait for the professional investigation.

True but LM has already said it would give the world market to an Indian company manufacturing F-16 for IAF.

And this shows pretty much what LM thinks of future export orders for the F-16.
Also I don’t think the Indians will focus to much on the ability to export the future aircraft, they have so much internal stuff to deal with as it is already and for the foreseeable future.

Why isn’t Saab pushing for the sale of some of the older Gripen C/Ds in SwAF service as well? Don’t they also have a large number of Gripen A/Bs in storage as strategic reserve? Those could conceivably be upgraded to the latest C/D standard and would be a very viable solution for the next 20 years.

It’s really not a cheap solution. The A/B airframes don’t have a lot of hours on them and although lot’s of parts is reused in the conversion there is still a whole lot of new components. The fuselage for an example is brad new.

The rebuild is cheaper than a brad new C/D, build I still don’t think it is a cheap solution compared to say used F-16’s that has a few hours on them.

Also Saab don’t own the planes in reserve, so the decision is not entirely up to them.

Maybe it is a better idea to sell the Gripen C to India instead of cannibalizing them.

As I said earlier, the plans will not be cannibalized. The components in question will be removed carefully and the planes can still be resold later.

Decision expected this year so potential customers for Gripen C is in a bit of hurry! (Thailand, Slovakia, Botswana & M’sia)

There is no reason to worry if you are a potential customer. There are very few components from the A/C that will be used for the Gripen E (less than 100). An example is the pitot tube and the catapult chair.

The Gripen A and C won’t be cannibalized, the components in question will be removed carefully. The A-planes can still be rebuilt into C-planes and sold afterwards.

When you build a C-plane from an A-plane lot’s of components are being re-used. If the swedish government decides to take the components from the stored A-planes for themselves to the E-planes then it just means that those components removed will have to be bought new for a rebuild from A to C.

In previous cases where A-planes have been rebuilt to C-planes and then exported the customer still had to pay for these components, the A-planes belong to the swedish air force. Now it just means that 100 less components can be taken to the C-build and will have to be bought new instead.