| NATO is basically going the way of the dodo bird, but if they somehow pull their acquisitions together into a more respectful partnership (rather than US shoving sales down their throats), it appears to me they could very easily settle on a few standards. The JAS 39 Gripen is no F-16E Falcon Block 60, but is its parrallel development to the Typhoon at least comparable to the same relationship as the F-16E Falcon was to the F-15E Super Eagle? There are alot of economies struggling with their public debts and they are drastically scaling back military expenditures in the next five year cycle. These cuts pose a real dilemna for the F-35 as its surely, even in export form, too expensive to operate. Will the JAS 39 Gripen be good enough for operators of the F-16A to pursuade them to buy it rather than selling off their older model F-16A's for F-16E (or at minimum CCIP/Block 50+ standard) as replacements? |
