By Admin 
Gripen Price: The Indian Air Force is exploring options to modernize and expand its fighter fleet. Meanwhile, Swedish defense company Saab AB has offered its advanced Saab JAS 39 Gripen to India as an affordable alternative to the French Dassault Rafale. Meanwhile, an important question is being raised among the people that what is the price of Gripen and is it cheaper than Rafale.
Unit cost comparison
The price of a fighter jet is never just about the aircraft. This includes weapons packages, spare parts, simulators, training, maintenance agreements and sometimes even technology transfer. The price of a Gripen fighter jet is approximately $85 million to $140 million per aircraft. With this, the price of Rafale is approximately $125 million to $208 million per aircraft. This simply means that the base acquisition cost of the Gripen is generally lower than that of the Rafale, depending on the configuration and contract structure.
what is operating cost
Along with this, the biggest long-term expense of any fighter jet is its operating cost. Gripen costs approximately $4000 to $10000 per flight hour. Whereas Rafale costs more than $14,000 per flight hour.
The Gripen is widely marketed as one of the world’s most economical fighter jets in terms of maintenance and operational costs. Low fuel consumption and easy maintenance requirements make it attractive for air forces looking to control lifecycle costs.
Why is it considered economical
The Gripen is often described as a light multi-role fighter. It has been designed to be flexible and affordable. According to reports, in some proposals, Saab has offered this aircraft to India at almost half the acquisition cost of Rafale. Its modular design allows easy upgrades and is optimized for operation from short runways. In the case of India, the value of negotiations to buy 114 Rafale jets has been estimated at around Rs 3.25 lakh crore. This figure includes aircraft advanced weapon systems, maintenance packages and possible local manufacturing under the Make in India initiative. Any Gripen deal could similarly depend on technology transfer, local assembly and strategic partnerships. This will have a huge impact on the final pricing.
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