F-35A vs. Gripen E: Why the Royal Thai Air Force May Be Better Off Without Stealth Fighters

Thailand’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/frustrated-swedish-gripen-thai-orders" target="_blank">confirmed selection</a> of the Swedish-American Gripen E/F fourth generation fighter to serve as its next combat aircraft, and decision to acquire 10-14 of the aircraft, has made the country the first foreign client for close to a decade for the troubled fighter program. The decision came two years after SAAB President and CEO Micael Johansson&nbsp;<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ceo-of-sweden-s-saab-admits-extreme-frustration-as-clients-don-t-want-gripen-fighters-no-sales-for-over-eight-years" >informed reporters</a>&nbsp;of his “extreme frustration” at the lack of Gripen sales, as the aircraft has consistently <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-europe-clients-production-dominance-market" target="_blank">lost ever tender </a>in which it competed with the American F-35A. It is thus notable that the Gripen was not the Royal Thai Air Force’s first choice for a new fighter, with the service having originally planned to acquire <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/new-powerplant-f35-review-needed" target="_blank">F-35A fifth generation fighters</a> to replace its ageing&nbsp;F-16A/B Block 15 fighters. While the Thai cabinet approved a budget for four F-35As on January&nbsp;12, 2022, the Pentagon made clear on May 22 the following year that the F-35 would not be made available to the country. Despite the F-35A having been the Royal Thai Air Force’s first choice, a comparison of the fighter with the Gripen E/F shows that both aircraft have very different advantages, and while the F-35 as a fifth generation fighter undoubtedly has a greater combat potential, acquiring the Gripen may result in an overall stronger Thai fighter fleet.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2024/08/30/article_66d153ee283c35_80165116.jpg" title="Gripen Leads Two F-35s in Formation">The F-35A and the Gripen E/F are notably at opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of maintenance needs and operational costs, with the former having by far the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/norway-fifthgen-engineer-shortage-f35-ground" target="_blank">highest requirements</a> and costs of any fighter in production in the Western world, while the latter’s costs are by far the lowest. As a result, over its lifetime a Gripen E/F is expected to cost less than one third as much as an F-35A to field – meaning for the same price as four F-35As the Royal Thai Air Force could field 12 Gripen E/Fs. Furthermore, the Gripen E/F’s very low maintenance needs serve as a major force multiplier, with the Royal Thai Air Force having famously kept its Gripen C/D fleet at close to 100 percent availability. By contrast, even in the United States which has priority access to spare parts the U.S. Air Force has struggled to <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/lawmakers-impatient-f35-55pct-rates" target="_blank">remain at 55 percent</a>&nbsp;availability. In practice, this means that Gripen E/Fs can fly close to twice as many sorties as F-35As, meaning a fleet of 12 Gripen E/Fs could fly close to six times as much as a fleet of four F-35As fielded for the same price.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2024/08/30/article_66d1544f5b9a88_50227517.jpg" title="Gripen with Meteor Training Rounds">A major advantage of the Gripen E/F for Thailand remains that the class has compatibility in training and maintenance with the existing Gripen C/D fighters the country already fields, which significantly simplifies operations compared to acquiring an entirely new class of fighter from a new generation. Where the F-35 is not thought to currently be offered for export with its most capable class of air to air missile, the AIM-260, with even the older AIM-120D off limits to most clients, the Gripen E/F’s <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/world-s-top-seven-most-dangerous-standoff-air-to-air-missiles-from-european-meteors-to-russian-r-37s" target="_blank">Meteor missile</a> is currently available. The missile is considered broadly on par with the the Chinese PL-15, and is one of the most capable air to air weapons in the world, with a performance thought to fall between those of the AIM-120D and AIM-260. The capabilities of the missile help to somewhat compensate for the inherent advantages that the F-35 retains in its air to air capabilities.&nbsp;<img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2024/08/30/article_66d154a3159468_97690124.jpg" title="F-35 Fifth Generation Fighter">Despite the Gripen E/F’s many often overlooked strengths, the F-35 remains a more capable fighter overall. Its stealth capabilities provide it with significantly greater survivability at beyond visual ranges against all manner of threats, while its AN/APG-81 radar is not only more advanced than the Gripen’s Raven ES-05, but is also over one third larger providing a tremendous advantage in situational awareness. This is supplemented by a distributed aperture system and by the world leading Multifunction Advanced Data Link system which further significantly boost situational awareness to a level that is unrivalled by any non-Chinese fighter. Designed for penetration strikes into heavily defended airspace, the F-35’s electronic warfare capabilities also have few rivals worldwide, with the fighter capable of gathering intelligence on enemy radars using sensors spread across its airframe. Nevertheless, the F-35’s complexity is also often its greatest downside, with the fighter’s reliability for high intensity combat operations having repeatedly been brought to question, while software bugs remain widespread – an issue not seen on the simpler Gripen E/F. The F-35 would have placed the combat capabilities of one small Thai unit in a very high league worldwide, rivalled only both other F-35 squadrons and by Chinese J-20 and <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/fc31-stealth-export-manoeuvrability" target="_blank">FC-31 units</a>. Nevertheless, for the Royal Thai Air Force’s overall combat potential, there are strong arguments in favour of the Gripen E/F as a more reliable, less maintenance intensive, and for most combat missions the more efficient and cost effective aircraft. This is aside from the fact that for Thailand’s relatively neutral geopolitical position, the Gripen E/F has far fewer <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/malaysian-prime-minister-mahathir-claims-american-fighters-are-only-useful-for-airshows-why-f-18s-can-t-fight-without-washington-s-permission" target="_blank">restrictions imposed</a> on how it can operate, including retaining the ability to conduct joint exercises with Chinese air units which is strictly prohibited for American fighters such as the F-16 and F-35.