Incredible Features Of The Saab Jas 39 Gripen: Sweden's Greatest Fighter Jet

Style and practicality can be difficult qualities to find together in any piece of tech. The delta wing design of certain aircraft, however, succeeds in this with aplomb. Not only does that triangular shape lend an iconic aspect to aircraft such as the Avro Vulcan bomber, but it can also offer aerodynamic advantages in terms of the agility and fuel space afforded to the aircraft.

The Saab Jas 39 Gripen may not be that well-recognized globally, but it's an extraordinary delta-wing aircraft too. The Jas 39 Gripen came about as a result of Sweden's Bas 90 program from the 1970s. Bas 90 was a Swedish initiative that essentially allowed its air force to operate from a chain of smaller bases, with the goal of preventing widespread destruction of its aircraft in the event of attack during the Cold War era. To go along with it, a particular fighter jet was required. Jas 39 Gripen certainly fulfilled that need.

Here's the story of this Swedish superstar, when and why it was made, and its capabilities.

Bas 90 required aircraft that could be quickly scrambled from such small, rather makeshift bases, in the event that they were needed. The compact craft continues to do so today. In November 2017, Saab shared footage of a Gripen C aircraft using a stretch of Swedish road 16 meters wide (a runway would usually be around 45 meters) and 800 meters long for landings and takeoffs alike.

Despite its small size, the aircraft packs some serious components from its first iteration: A front-mounted Mauser gun was its main weapon, though it could also be equipped with up to other missiles of varying capacity. It also has the RM-12 engine from Volvo as its driving force, making it deceptively powerful, versatile, mobile, and easy to maintain when needed.

Overall, it's difficult to imagine an aircraft better tailored to the Cold War mission than the Gripen.

Ultimately, of course, Sweden was not attacked during the Cold War, but this certainly doesn't mean that the time developing the Gripen under the Bas 90 program was wasted. The craft has seen or continues to see service in the militaries of nations including Thailand and Hungary, according to Business Insider.

The Gripen family of aircraft will continue to evolve for years to come, too. In December 2022, manufacturer Saab was contracted by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration to review, renew, re-outfit, and release a new generation of Gripen. The deal, for a cool SEK 3.5 billion (approximately $3.2 billion USD), will last until 2029. It will constitute, Saab's Aeronautics business head Jonas Hjelm boasted at the time, "a big leap ahead in terms of radar performance and functionality, both for the hardware and software, and will future-proof the operational capability of Gripen C/D."

Enhancements to weapons, the engine itself, sensors, and connectivity between different Gripen models are planned. It will all go to ensure that as many of these extraordinary aircraft remain competitive as possible, for as long as possible. What a fighter jet it is.