Overview

Born from Sweden's unique Cold War posture and sustained by a radical commitment to affordability, the Saab Gripen stands apart from every other modern fighter program. Conceived not for global power projection but for national survival, dispersed operations, and economic endurance, Gripen represents a rare case where strategic doctrine, industrial independence, and fiscal discipline were fused into a single front-line combat aircraft. This book traces the Gripen's complete journey-from the lessons of Draken and Viggen to the digital leap of fly-by-wire, from early prototype crashes to full NATO compatibility, and from early export failures to decisive breakthroughs in Europe, Africa, Asia, and Brazil. It reveals how Sweden transformed software, maintenance design, pilot training, and basing doctrine into strategic weapons equal in importance to radar and missiles. Beyond technical achievement, Saab Gripen: The Affordable Fighter Strategy exposes the political realities of the global fighter market, the pressures of alliance dynamics, and the limits imposed on small independent producers. It examines how Gripen survived where many national fighter programs vanished-and how it continues to compete against far larger and costlier rivals by redefining what ""combat power"" truly means. More than the story of an aircraft, this is the story of a military philosophy that rejected excess in favor of endurance, sovereignty, and sustainability. In an age of escalating defense costs and shrinking fleets, the Gripen stands as proof that modern air power can still be both advanced and affordable.

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