"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
"Kevin Brooks" wrote in
:
"Bjørnar Bolsøy" wrote in message
...
Alan Minyard wrote in
:

And quoting company web sites is not a good way to
achieve credibility.

Al Minyard

It's a pilot with 3,500 hours in jets, and the
statement is nothing spectacular, it simply
emphasises the superiority of a 4ht generation
fighter compared to older designs.

If it is so superior to the latest F-16 Blocks, then why has it
been repeatedly outsold on the foreign market by what you
apparently consider some kind of "third generation" fighter? You
are saying it costs the same, offers OPTEMPO savings in
comparison to the F-16's, and yet it has managed to sell what,
maybe a third the number of F-16's sold externally since the
JAS-39 entered into the fray?

There's lost of reasons for that, combat proven security is
one factor. For countries already with a fleet of F16 it's
a natural choice to expand with the same type of aircraft,
both from a maintainance and tactical point of view.

Politics, improving NATO and US ties is certainly another
big factor, as is the total industry benefits. The latter
is not always a black and white issue. As an example, in
the 70's F16 programe here in europe a big selling point
was prospects of advanced technology transfers and sustantial
re-purchase agreement, but in the end little benefitted the
Norwegian industry and the re-purchasing pretty insignificant.

Some of those nations were not F-16 operators, such as Poland, UAE, and
Chile--those sales alone are significantly greater than what the "superior"
Gripen has acheived. So what you are saying is, "The Gripen is the better
aircraft hands-down, but is outsold by the F-16 solely because of political
considerations"? Sorry, but that does not really compute--IMO Saab has in
the Gripen taken a pretty good aircraft and overhyped it, and in the end it
is not demonstrably better than the F-16 Block 50/52, and may even be
considered less capable than the Block 60. If Saab had truly stolen a march
on the rest of the worlds' fighter manufacturers and was offering an
aircraft at similar or cheaper cost to that of the F-16, with cheaper
operating cost than the F-16, and with the alleged tactical advantages that
Saab has assigned to the JAS 39, then the world would have been, if not
beating a path to its door, at least not frequently slamming their own doors
in Saab's face during the competitions.

Brooks


Regards...