The Saab Gripen is a beautiful fighter with a nifty little mane on its nose, and it's popular with small militaries around the world because it's cheap to operate, has high-mission readiness, and can take off from nearly anywhere. Seriously, if you've got a half mile of level pavement, you can probably get a Gripen in the air from it. The Gripen fighter, which recently saw its E-variant enter serial production, is squarely aimed at fighting whatever it needs to, including fifth-generation fighters like Russia's Su-57. That might be surprising since it's not as fast. Or have as many weapons. Or have much stealth coating or many materials.
But the Gripen's manufacturer, Saab, isn't trying to win at air shows, and it isn't accepting the price point required to develop stealth aircraft. (Even Russia can't actually afford its stealthy Su-57, which might not even be that stealthy.)
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