By Admin 
The Indian Air Force is constantly busy strengthening and advancing its fleet. Meanwhile, Sweden’s fighter aircraft company Saab has made the biggest offer of its Gripen fighter jet in the world to the Indian government. Under this, a proposal was made to establish the world’s most advanced aerospace industry in India, which includes multi-stage design, production and maintenance as well as induction of fighter jet Gripen-E.
Gripen most advanced fighter jet system: SAAB
SAAB had earlier also proposed Gripen fighter jet to India with technology transfer, but the Indian Air Force expressed confidence in Rafale. Mikael Franzen, Chief Marketing Officer of Gripen and Vice President of Business Area Aeronautics at SAAB, said at the Singapore Airshow, ‘Gripen E is the most advanced and cost-effective fighter jet system available in the world. It will further enhance the strength of the Indian Air Force with the world’s best sensor fusion, networking capabilities and rapidly growing Artificial Intelligence (AI) features.
Speaking to news agency PTI, SAAB Vice President Mikael Franzen said, ‘Gripen will fit perfectly into the Indian Air Force along with Rafale and Tejas. There is a plan to not only rapidly manufacture fighter jets in Sweden and India, but along with it an ecosystem of Indian companies will also be developed. With this, a regional industrial center will also be created for exports.
Features of Gripen fighter jet
Talking about the capability of SAAB Gripen, it has been designed to operate even on the highway. Its maintenance is less. This fighter jet has a unique hardware-independent architecture, which allows rapid software updates without re-certifying flight-critical systems. Keeping in mind that India can develop software itself, Sweden has given this offer to India. India’s missiles, bombs or other weapons can be integrated into this fighter jet as per requirement without the help of the company.
Where does Gripen fighter jet stand compared to Rafale?
SAAB Gripen fighter jet cannot compete with Rafale in deep strike and carrier operations. Rafale F4 has two engines, while Gripen is a single engine fighter jet. Rafale has 14 hardpoints and 9500 kg payload capacity, whereas Gripen has only 10 hardpoints and 7200 kg payload capacity. Talking about speed, the speed of Rafale is Mach 1.8 and the speed of Gripen is Mach 2.0. Both have supercruise capability.