the only area where it was in front was cost

thing is, if you have to buy a new car, a fiat 500 will always beat a mercedes in costs department… even if it lags behind in areas like comfort or performance.

same it that report: the gripen came behind in all aspects (actually, the simple fact to compare these fighters may be considered to be aimed at the gripen looking bad) but it’s not the major problem.

the major problem is that there was expected level of performance that was said to be required and the gripen performed under that level. Now, it may be cheaper, but if it did not meet operational requirements, being easier to hangar or cheaper to maintain won’t make it any more useful in regard to requirements – it will still be below.

Saying that the gripen met the requirements was a statement by Ueli Maurer, statement which was obviously a lie. The leaked report shows clearly that in every tested aspect that was not the case – th egripen consistently underperformed. Having a chief of armed forces come and repeat that claim doesn’t make it any more true, unless they decided to lower the requirements after the trials to make the gripen reach them artificially.

Finally, the statement “they’re there to replace the F-5s” doesn’t matter: The SwAF made a set of requirements for that deal and the gripen did not make it, plain and simple. Had they say “we want a cheapo modern replacement for the f-5s, and it doesn’t matter if it barely comes out better than the fighters it replaces” they’d probably have only the gripen to choose from, the others wouldn’t even bother replying

thing is, for as long as you evaluate a paper plane (something planned to be, more or less, like this or like that, but not sure… and so on) you can make it win against anything.

The F-35 such as presented on paper was something almost akin to science fiction…. unfortunately, some real life thingies like physics or human competence of today, came into play to mess it up…

In the end, you’re far from what it was supposed to be in the first place.
Talking about the Gripen, any support it gets is based on promises by SAAB, not real life data (as its configuration isn’t even fixed yet). If the FAB needs an introduction by 2015, what are the chances to develop an operational modern top notch fighter in two years? It is either almost fully developed already (so promises of co-development are “misleading” to say the least) or it still has to be developed (and the chances the development is done in two years time a just about zero)….. So, one of the main arguments put forward by SAAB already looks hardly doable by this day

answering a swedish fanboy that does not bother read?

No, he’s right… slaves trade as well as most if not all pratices involving slaves would be considered as crime agains humanity today. but that’s somewhat off topic in an aviation discussion board… 😉

as well as for quite a number of fighters actually… F-22 as the latest to enter service, but also, for example, the Etendard and Super Etendard still in french service, as well as almost all the fighters that entered service prior to the 1960’s

In any case, the modern fighters are more about systems managment than really flying, as they most have carefree handling capabilities, thanks to the FBW which is (almost completely) foolproof, so even after they are operational in it, the pilots will still certainly spend more time in the simulator than in real flight

boeing still will make loads of money on the tanker deal. airbus only spent money… there’s no comparison

in the end, it’s always the same: the winners makes money, the looser looses. running in a competition where it’s been clear you won’t be allowed to win the final contract is just wasting money. if a country has already decided who it will buy from: let them pay the price

@ EELightning

thing is, Korea will even more certainly go for a US design than Japan. The US won’t let any market they can take to anyone else, as with the SK’s northern “neighbours” the US supposrt is seen as extremely valuable.

As a result, any non-US company participating there is just loosing its time. The only thing Eurofighter guys can expect is something along the lines the Rafale guys got overthere in the previous competition:

the “satisfaction” to say “we won the competition before the politicians decided to go for a US product”

now one can wonder if it’s worth the investment to go there just to try to get that. Dassault already answered to that question in Japan: they didn’t even bother participating (why spend time and money just to get the japanese a better deal from a US firm?)