Gripen Fighter Jet

[HavocXphere]

We should have bought textbooks instead. Or hospital equipment. Or a million other things.

18 of 26 gripens delivered so far and only12 pilots qualified on type...anyone else see a problem?

Gonna strip half a dozen for parts anyway. Its how taxi mechanics roll.

Our military force (such as it is) need close air support.

To do what? We're *paying* half the countries in Southern Africa huge amounts of money just to keep them on their feet. Nobody is going to attack us...and even if they wanted to...nobody has anything resembling an army.

Our army is bigger than Namibia, Lesotho, Moz, Botswana and Zim put together. We don't need combat planes. Or freakin submarines.

Its just our politicians being corrupt as usual. There no other reason to spend so much cash on something we have zero use for.

[Albereth]

They use fuel. SANDF doesn't have budget for fuel. Crap aircraft.

[Picard]

They use fuel. SANDF doesn't have budget for fuel. Crap aircraft.

We should rather be using hang gliders.

[skyhawk]

A1O THUNDERBOLT (warthog) is not the Answer

Our army is bigger than Namibia, Lesotho, Moz, Botswana and Zim put together. We don't need combat planes. Or freakin submarines.

SA has an army of 30 00 personnel augmented by 4 500 civilians. Zimbabwe currently has an active duty strength of 30,000.
Mozambique has 11 000 soldiers. Do i need to mention armies of Namibia , Botswana and Lesotho ?

Airforce wise SA cannot overwhelm Zim in the event of war. AFZ has around 30 F7 fighter jets , unknown number of Mig23s (same type The Cubans flew to tame SAAF F1s with success). AFZ personnel were training SAAF pilots how to fly the Bae Hawks until recently.

Its folly to assume that Air dominace in Africa is not important as they are numerous cases were dogfights have occurred. Eritrean FULCRUMS VS Ethiopian Flankers. Egypt vs Algeria. Sudan vs South Sudan. to mention but a few. Also African countries have been investing in Air superiority fighters since the turn of the century and no country wants to be caught offside. Uganda once caught offside during the great war of Africa has bought Su 30s. Zambia received a batch of K8 earlier this year and ordered Mi 28 helicopters. They were reports earlier this year that Kenya is getting 2nd hand F15E to neutralize the al shabaab threat. Zimbabwe is getting new fighters still top secret several pilots have been sent for training in China. Tanzania and Namibia and Sudan are buying Fc1s. Djibouti got second hand Mirage 2000s courtesy of French Air force. Botswana has been offered 2nd hand F16 or F18s and they are also considering the Gripen.All these aircraft are air superiority fighters with secondary roles SA should have bought Euro fighter Typhoon or Dassult Rafales enough to overwhelm any SADC threat for a long time.

[garyc]

In answer to the OP's question, there is a good summary of the aircraft specs on Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gripen>. We have the C/D variant, which is compatible with NATO standard ordinace.

As to whether we need fighter jets, a good lesson was the Angolan war. Some Cubans arrived with MiG 23 aircraft. These outclassed our Mirage F1, which has a similar combat capability to the MiG 21. Without air superiority our ground operations were severely hampered and the war became a stalemate.

There has been debate on the exact choice of fighter and if we should have bought the French aircraft. At least one advantage of the Gripen is that it was designed primaraily to fight the Su 27 family of aircraft, which will probably be our biggest threat in Africa.

[Albereth]

We should rather be using hang gliders.

There was one of those Discovery Channel shows about top toys 2011 on on the weekend. There was a hang glider on that show that was awesome. Pricey but way, way cheaper than the Saabs.

[Albereth]

In answer to the OP's question, there is a good summary of the aircraft specs on Wikipedia <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gripen>. We have the C/D variant, which is compatible with NATO standard ordinace.

As to whether we need fighter jets, a good lesson was the Angolan war. Some Cubans arrived with MiG 23 aircraft. These outclassed our Mirage F1, which has a similar combat capability to the MiG 21. Without air superiority our ground operations were severely hampered and the war became a stalemate.

There has been debate on the exact choice of fighter and if we should have bought the French aircraft. At least one advantage of the Gripen is that it was designed primaraily to fight the Su 27 family of aircraft, which will probably be our biggest threat in Africa.

A Mirage was lost on the runway due to damage suffered from a missile fired by a Flogger. The Flogger was a fairly limited aircraft in that it was meant to compete with Phantoms but it did have better weaponry than our aircraft. The CIA soon solved the problem by giving UNITA Stingers which they used to take down quite a few Floggers.

In fact, UNITA went for overkill. A dustbin would be placed in a tree with a smoke grenade. The FAPLA pilots would think that there was a G5 under the tree and would come in to take it out. They'd then end up with 3 or 4 Stingers taking them down when just one would have done the job.

And, if I remember correctly, a Flogger was taken out with groundfire.

[skyhawk]

At least one advantage of the Gripen is that it was designed primarily to fight the Su 27 family of aircraft, which will probably be our biggest threat in Africa.

Gripen designed to fight the Su 27 family of aircraft ! how is it so ? Su 35 falls under the Su 27 family of aircraft and NATO acknowledges its deadly can take out a F15 easily. How can a single engine fighter jet take on a twin engine fighter jet in close air combat (with in visual range )? I hear the strength of the Gripen lie in Electronic warfare. In a dogfight a Angolan Su 27 needs a tYHPOON Or Rafale

[Albereth]

Gripen designed to fight the Su 27 family of aircraft ! how is it so ? Su 35 falls under the Su 27 family of aircraft and NATO acknowledges its deadly can take out a F15 easily. How can a single engine fighter jet take on a twin engine fighter jet in close air combat (with in visual range )? I hear the strength of the Gripen lie in Electronic warfare. In a dogfight a Angolan Su 27 needs a tYHPOON Or Rafale

Not sure about easily - is that if the Eagle doesn't use its weapons?

Just some interesting BS - not one Strike Eagle has been lost in combat, a few Flankers have. UNITA took one down.

The Gripen is a multi-role aircraft, which is pretty much the same as saying it is a jack of all trades, master of none. It also has short runway requirements and can be fixed with a bobbejane spanner.

[skyhawk]

Not sure about easily - is that if the Eagle doesn't use its weapons?

there are some things that you need to understand such as
1.Thrust
2.Thrust to weight ratio
3.heat signature
4.climb rate
5.acceleration
6.Turn rate
7. and many more

[Albereth]

there are some things that you need to understand such as
1.Thrust
2.Thrust to weight ratio
3.heat signature
4.climb rate
5.acceleration
6.Turn rate
7. and many more

You do know that the aircraft is just the platform and you have to take the armaments, pilot and command system into account when you consider the weapon?

The Su-27 doesn't have AIM-120

[skyhawk]

what so special about the AIM-120 ? as far as i know you cant fit a R 27 or Sd10 on a F15

[BeVonk!]

The old models of air combat where we see - and think ito - dogfights are not as relevant any more. It's about the whole system - an integrated approach. The US for example has assets monitoring and controlling air and ground space (like AWACS). The idea is to shoot opponents down long before there is any contact. The plan is not to get entangled in dogfights. I would hope we (SA) think in the same direction.

[BeVonk!]

One integrated battle system.

[Albereth]

what so special about the AIM-120 ? as far as i know you cant fit a R 27 or Sd10 on a F15

The AIM-120 has killed things.