Last week the Swedish Airforce was in France. Exercising with Recon F1’s and Rafale F2 and Mirage 2000.

Got one photo from the Swedish article. Maybe there’s more at the French defense web? The French AF will return to Sweden later this year for the Nordic air meet, the USAF will also arrive.. I wonder what they will bring.

Have read that the Baltic states would create a common air policing system around the time the article talk about (2012).

For the last 3 years the Gripen sales folders have included a export prospect 12 Gripen jets on lease to the Baltic states.

Their economies are doing great and I think they should bite the bullet and get the same kind of upgraded A/B Gripen to C/D standard Sweden is getting. If Hungary can do it then all 3 Baltic states can too in a joint lease.

They would get a 30+ year solution for their airforces, traning and logistical center just a few minutes away in Sweden, the same standard other Gripen users fly and much lower operating costs than second hand F-16s.

Thought SAAB was owned, at least in part by GM, not Ford?

Correct. My bad.

Ford owns Volvo cars. GM own Saab Automobile…

OK. It’s just common sense.

They bought a initial 12 F-15SG in a 1 bn package. If training, support and infrastructure is 30-40% the jets land at USD 50-60 Million. No surprise as jets at the end of their production line often come with nice rebates.

Yes I doubt any political reasons, Singapore use a vaste amount of French equipment and even bought La Fayette based stealth frigates from France even before the jet tender was complete. The navy have also bought 6 or so subs from Sweden, the Army has a very large amount of French weapon systems and so on.

So no I don’t doubt that Rafale was better in concept. I also don’t doubt they were more costly. Just like the French Ministry, Dassault and the aforementioned Colonel has said. As well as Mr Bob Kemp of the Gripen campaign who was on the inside of the procurement tender.

Singapore buy what can get the job done at the best cost within the required time frame. Had it been a much larger tender the outcome is likely to have been different. Now they got a handful of modern jets at a good price, operative from 2008.

So be it.

Money.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/07/16/business/rairfight.php

Yet it lost to the F-15 in competitions to sell to South Korea and Singapore. Moussez said it was outflanked in the former case on political grounds and in the latter case on costs, noting that the dollar had depreciated 30 percent over the period of the Singapore competition

(Colonel François Moussez)

Kemp said both aircraft (Rafale and Typhoon) had been offered to Singapore and South Korea at about $95 million each

(Bob Kemp, director of sales for the Gripen)