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this post was submitted on 06 Oct 2023
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Ukraine
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I feel like this is more trouble than it's worth. Ukraine doesn't need to be training pilots and ground crew on two completely new aircraft that no one in Ukraine's forces are familiar with.
That isn't wrong in general but Gripen are actually a much better fit for Ukraine than F-16. They were designed with being able to start and land on improvised runways and easily maintenance by conscripts out of small bases in mind.
Sweden being not in NATO basically planned with an Ukraine scenario in mind. Being invaded, having their infrastructure attacked and only getting limited support from others not wanting to actively join the fight. So operation under attack from hidden and relocating bases with minimal support was a main design goal for jets.
F-16 is there for the standoff range via long range sensors and appropriate missiles more than operational behavior
Give them both and fit them into different roles
Yeah, the Gripen is amazing! I suppose it's not the latest thing in the air, but Sweden has kept it updated, and it's a solid machine. It is pretty much designed perfectly for what Ukraine is facing.
Some Ukrainian pilots apparently finished their Gripen orientation about a month ago, according to the Swedish defence minister. The plane can operate with pretty minimal infrastructure and has a really low cost per flight hour (both in relative terms for a modern jet fighter, of course), so it seems like it's exactly the kind of thing Ukraine could do with even if it does take a bit of time to train on it
If Ukraine gets Gripen then they get access to an air platform that can fire the best air to air missile in the world.
Meteor is deadly.
They could use F-16's in the SEAD/DEAD/bomb truck role whilst using the Gripens to shoot down russian jets and helicopters from extreme range.
Your link seems broken, here's the correct one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meteor_%28missile%29
Works fine here, this might be a kbin/lemmy type formatting thing going on.
Huh, you're right. But it's even just within different Lemmy apps, the link doesn't work in Sync, but it works in Boost.
This might be a good decision in peace time. But Ukraine is fighting for existence. They won't care about the most efficient approach. They will care about bring as much capacity to the fight they can. If they can't get more f16s these aircraft are likely to be welcome.
That's what I'm referring to, though. Trying to field Grippens as well will diminish their capability of fielding F16s.
We also don't know what Ukraine think of this offer at this stage, right now Sweden is trying to negotiate its way into NATO, they're interested in convincing NATO regardless of what Ukraine wants.
Their nation is spending something like half its budget if not more on defence, they can manage a few dozen jets.
Besides, they'll have to phase out their soviet era jets at some point because of the sheer age of them soon. Those Su-24 etc airframes are probably in rough shape by this point.
We do know what they think about it. They have asked for Gripen on multiple occasions.
Actually now that Finland joined we are surrounded by nato countries so many figure it doesn't really matter as much or changed their minds on the matter. Not that we got to vote on the matter in the first place, though.