A White House spokesperson put it the best, I think:
The White House spokesperson Andrew Bates, when asked about Trump’s comments, said: “Encouraging invasions of our closest allies by murderous regimes is appalling and unhinged – and it endangers American national security, global stability and our economy at home.”
What’s so insane about all this is that Trump saying something like that out loud means it’s now practically gospel to the vast majority of GOP voters, and might as well be official party policy.
You are both comparing two systems and calling the one that cost 5-7 time less per flight hour mediocre in a discussion where the enemy discussed are recycling hardware from the 50’s on the battlefield.
Dudes, Gripen might not be a 5th generation fighter but it clearly outperforms the enemy it was designed to wrestle.
So “mediocre” it’s not what I would call Gripen even though I agree that we (Sweden) should spend more on developing a new 5th generation system among other defence systems.
The finnish and swiss did not agree, both concluded that the f-35 would be economally better over the entire lifespan of the planes. Buying a new plane requires you to look further than one month of flying
Ahem, do you know how much fuckery goes on in military arms deals?
If this is what makes you conclude the F-35 being a better system, you clearly have idea of what you’re talking about. (NOT.)
Arms deals of that magnitude are based more on what politicians see as a chance of getting reelected than what the engineers conclude.
Furthermore, just looking at the specifications and conclude that A is better than B is something people without insight would do.
I recommend this Swedish blog post on the subject that was written 10 years ago: Gripen E vs JSF
Oke whatever dude buy the gripen have fun, I’ll gladly buy the f-35. And I’ll continue my life without insight haha wtf
No one is surprised.