JAS 39 Gripen: The Best Fighter Not Named F-22 or F-35?

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Key Points: The JAS 39 Gripen, a versatile and cost-effective Swedish multi-role fighter jet, has served smaller air forces with tight budgets for decades. Many experts consider it one of the best fighter jets today. 

-Designed to meet Sweden’s specific defense needs, its affordability and operational efficiency have made it a popular export.

-Modernized versions like the Gripen E/F improve capabilities with enhanced engines, electronic warfare systems, and data networking, but its lack of stealth limits its utility in contested airspace.

-As advances in stealth and air defense technologies progress, Sweden may shift focus to sixth-generation fighter collaborations or indigenous stealth aircraft programs, while the Gripen likely remains attractive for less-demanding markets.

JAS 39 Gripen: Versatility Meets Affordability in Modern Air Combat

The JAS 39 Gripen, designed and produced by Swedish aerospace company Saab, is a multi-role fighter developed to meet Sweden’s specific defense needs. Its design emphasizes affordability, versatility, and operational efficiency, factors that have also made it an attractive option for air forces globally. With a long service life and several modernized versions, the Gripen has demonstrated adaptability in an evolving defense landscape. However, its future viability remains contingent on advancements in technology and shifting military priorities.

JAS 39 Gripen: Development and Initial Purpose

The Gripen emerged in response to Sweden’s pressing need to find a replacement for its aging fleet of Saab 35 Draken and Saab 37 Viggen Cold War-era aircraft during the 1980s. Sweden’s requirements specified an extremely versatile aircraft that could excel in multiple roles — air-to-air combat, ground attack, and reconnaissance — while remaining cost-effective and relatively simple to operate. This last criterion was crucial, as Sweden’s conscript-heavy personnel structure meant that the young and non-specialized would be responsible for refueling, refitting, and rearming the jet.

The new jet had to be compatible with Sweden’s Bas 90 basing system too. Rather than parking their jets at a few locations in large numbers, Sweden chooses to disperse their aircraft throughout the country at many remote locations, a decision aimed at protecting their fighter fleets from being knocked out quickly in the event of war. To that end, the new jet had to be able to take off and land on highways: an early design requirement specified 800, and the new jet needed just 800 meters for takeoff and landing.

The resulting design was the Gripen: a lightweight, single-engine fighter with a delta wing and canard design, which afforded pilots good maneuverability at a relatively moderate price point. The Gripen’s first flight came just before the end of the Cold War in 1988, and it entered service with the Swedish Air Force in the mid-1990s.

Export and International Adoption

Although Swedish aerospace engineers tailor-made the JAS 39 Gripen for the Swedish Air Force, the Gripen’s versatility combined with low operating cost and operational simplicity meant that the platform enjoyed some success on the international export market, appealing especially to countries with more limited defense budgets and economic constraints.

Expanding from Sweden, the Gripen is now in service with Brazil, Hungary, the Czech Republic, South Africa, and most recently Thailand.

In Europe, Hungary and the Czech Republic integrated the Gripen into their NATO-compatible defense structures. In South Africa, the Gripen serves as a versatile fighter in a region with diverse operational challenges. Brazil, on the other hand, has taken a different approach, manufacturing the aircraft domestically in Brazil via a technology-sharing agreement with Saab.

Technological Evolution of the Gripen

Since its initial introduction into Swedish service, the Gripen has undergone multiple upgrades designed to keep the jet relevant in a shifting and evolving threat landscape.

The JAS 39 Gripen E/F, also known as the Gripen Next Generation (NG), is the latest Gripen version and represents a big jump forward in terms of capabilities compared to earlier Gripen models. The E/F Gripen integrates a revamped, more powerful jet engine from General Electric, a boon to range and payload capacity. In addition, the newest jet also sports upgraded electronic warfare (EW) systems and improved integration with various sensors.

Taken all together, these improvements afford the multi-role fighter good flexibility to counter a wide variety of challenges. The Gripen’s data networking capabilities, in particular, fit well into a networked defense system. Despite these improvements and optimizations, however, the Gripen, as a decidedly non-stealthy fighter jet, faces distinct setbacks against advanced fighters on the bleeding edge of stealth technology.

Potential Replacement for JAS 39 Gripen 

While the JAS 39 Gripen has certainly proven its utility as the Swiss Army Knife of fighter jets, Saab’s newest jet has become slightly long in the tooth, especially in light of advances made in air defense systems as well as stealth technology made to counter those systems.

New technologies and advancements in artificial intelligence, integration with drone systems, and cutting-edge sixth-generation fighter programs will eventually outclass the Gripen’s capabilities significantly and necessitate a replacement fighter jet.

Sweden has signaled interest in collaborating with existing 6th-generation fighter projects like the Tempest as well as the Future Combat Air System program, which is known by its acronym, FCAS. In 2022, Japan, Italy, and the United Kingdom banded together to jointly develop a 6th generation fighter aircraft under the auspices of the Global Combat Air Program. Sweden has indicated an interest in the program.

Additionally, the Swedish Air Force’s Flygsystem 2020 program is an indigenous initiative to develop and eventually field a 5th generation stealth aircraft sometime in the next decade. However, given the availability of 5th generation aircraft already — first and foremost the American-led F-35 program — as well as the progress being made by various other European countries to develop and field 5th or 6th generation aircraft already, it would not be surprising if Sweden chooses to join a project that already exists rather than to strike out on its own, given the cost and technological challenges inherent in stealth fighter design.

An Assessment of the Gripen’s Future

The JAS 39 Gripen has earned a reputation as a very versatile and cost-effective multi-role fighter, mainly when catering to the needs of smaller air forces that operate on tight budgets against adversaries that do not operate stealth aircraft. The Gripen has also benefited from ease of operation with NATO allies. Combined with a practical, reliable, and relatively straightforward design —optimized for conscripted ground crews to operate — the Gripen enjoys export success on the international market.

However, the Gripen’s relative simplicity compared to high-end fighters like the F-35 or Su-57 limits its utility in peer-to-peer conflicts involving advanced adversaries. Although the latest E/F Gripen versions improve its survivability and situational awareness, the jet still lacks stealthy features and some of the high-end capabilities required to remain combat-relevant in heavily contested airspace — bringing the platform’s future role within the Swedish Air Force into question.

It seems unlikely in an era defined by a revanchist Russia and increasingly bellicose foreign policy stance from China that the JAS 39 Gripen will continue to enjoy relevancy, considering the advancements those two countries are making in stealth technology and air defense capabilities.

Instead, it is more likely that the Gripen will remain in production for overseas markets among air forces intent on countering regional rivals rather than powers aspiring to global primacy.

About the Author: Caleb Larson 

Caleb Larson is an American multiformat journalist based in Berlin, Germany. His work covers the intersection of conflict and society, focusing on American foreign policy and European security. He has reported from Germany, Russia, and the United States. Most recently, he covered the war in Ukraine, reporting extensively on the war’s shifting battle lines from Donbas and writing on the war’s civilian and humanitarian toll. Previously, he worked as a Defense Reporter for POLITICO Europe. You can follow his latest work on X.