Saab Gripen: Sweden's 21st Century Multi-role Aircraft (Aerofax) [Paperback]

The Swedes have been building their own airplanes since WW2. They have a reputation of building advanced planes. Saab Aircraft Company has always been on the cutting edge of technology, willing to use the unconventional. Their jets are multi-role; interceptors, fight-bombers & reconnaissance all with ability to operate from improvised landing strips such as roads or highways....a useful consideration if your airbase has been destroyed.

This book on the Grippen gives background on the design influences, decisions made to make this fourth generation fighter. While Sweden has been able to sell some of these to other nations, they've never landed the big sale. Competition comes in the form of F-16's, MiG-29's, and the EuroFighter.

The book is on high gloss quality paper; there are tons of excellent color photos. The narrative is packed with statistics, data, facts, dates about the airframe, cockpit, engine, radar, weapons, you name it, and it's here. While technically oriented, the text is not so dry as to loose the interest of aviation fans. I found the book useful as a reference for models as there are photos of the plane in flight, landing, on the ground.

I like this book and recommend it for anyone interested in modern fighter jets, those who want to see something other than US or Soviet designs.

his is an excellent book on the SAAB Gripen - the best so far till date.

There is a huge amount of technical information which is unexpected in 4.5/5 G Fighter - with superb photos and excellent design and diagrams - also replete with copious info on armament , avionics , radar , engine and design aspects .

Chapters on early development , exports and Gripen prospects are also excellent . Would have liked more info on versions C/D and some more on training aspects - otherwise a MUST BUY for technical coverage !!

Its not really meant for modellers - hence there are no close-ups or walk-arounds - one can buy the relevant IAPR for that.

In the world of aviation books, Midland Publishing can be considered a leading authority on a diverse range of civil and military aircraft. The majority of titles published under the Aerofax and Red Star banners deal with Russian/Soviet or British/US aircraft. Some of the best work in the field are the volumes by Russian/Soviet aviation expert Yefim Gordon, such as the recent titles on Soviet Secret Bomber Projects and the Su-24 FENCER. Midland also does an excellent job examining aircraft from other countries, such as this solid volume on Sweden's JAS-39 Gripen multi-role aircraft by Dutch author Gerard Keijsper.

The JAS-39 Gripen was the first of the world's 4th generation combat aircraft to take flight and enter into front-line service. It followed in the famed footsteps of its predecessors, the J-29 Tunnan, J-32 Lansen, J-35 Draken, and AJ-37 Viggen, whose unique and elegant designs made them favorites of aviation enthusiasts worldwide. Designed in response to a 1980 Swedish Air Force (Svenska Flygvabnet) RFP for a multi-role combat aircraft to replace both the fighter/attack and recon models of the Viggen, the Gripen was the winning design of IG-JAS, a joint consortium of Swedish companies led by SAAB that included Volvo and Ericssen. The Gripen's basic design of single engine, side air intakes, and delta wing with canards mounted just under the cockpit was mandated by the unique Swedish requirements that have guided previous designs like the Draken and Viggen: the aircraft should be single-engined to keep maintenance and cost down, must be able to operate from short roadways, and should have a quick-surge capability.

On 14 September 1982, Gripen took off on its first test flight. Over several years numerous prototypes were tested and dozens of modifications to the digital fly-by-wire systems were made, resulting in a highly capable, dependable, and reliable airplane that has suffered only 3 airframe losses in its entire history. Gripen carries a 27-mm internal cannon and can carry a diverse range of weaponry such as AMRAAM, Meteor, Sidewinder, and Maverick on its eight weapon points. Coupled with air-to-air refueling capability, LANTIRN targeting pods, and AESA radar, Gripen has a bark equal to its bite. The aircraft's single F-404J engine produces 18,000lbs of thrust with afterburner, enabling it to reach speeds of up to Mach-2. Twenty-four years and 60,000 flight hours later, over 200 Gripens are in front-line service with the Swedish Air Force and export Gripens are equipping the Air Forces of Hungary, South Africa, and the Czech Republic. Gripen's low cost and high performance has made it a leading contendor for foreign military sales.

Keijsper's book conforms with the fairly standard Aerofax format. The book begins with an overview, discusses design histories and test regimens, explains weapons and avionics systems, then moves into the aircraft in-service and its export versions and sales. The text is accompanied by a wealth of photographs, with over 250 color and black and white photographs in 176 pages. Three-way design views that effectively illustrate the design process are also included, which helps the reader in understanding the nature of aircraft design immensely. A nice tough are squadron patches from many of the squadrons currently operating Gripen as well as detail on the Swedish Order of the Gripen Knights, which is a professional group of Gripen pilots who are awarded badges based on experience and proficiency. The level of detail offered in this book is incredible, essentially providing everything you could hope to know. It is dated, being written in 2003 and published in 2004, and could stand an update on the major differences in the C/D models over the original A/B, but that is information that can be found elsewhere.

There are some flaws in this book that bring it down a few notches. First, no biography of the author is provided. The only detail offered by the publisher is that Keijsper is Dutch and lives in the Czech Republic. He clearly received large amounts of information from the Gripen Consortium and the Svenska Flygvabnet (in fact the book often reads like a press release) but the author's credentials are brought into question. The structuring of the chapters is a bit awkward. Chapter 3, Improving the Breed would have been better suited as a discussion after Chapter 8, Into Service. There is a 2-page chapter on Extreme High Alpha Test Flying that serves no real purpose, and should have been removed. There are minor errors in the text, such as the comment that the Gripen has supercruise capability, which with a thrust-to-weight ratio of 0.9 seems hard to believe, but overall nothing too alarming. There is a disconnect between the photos captions and the text which make them feel like two separate narratives and there are numerous grammatical errors, likely the result of translation from Swedish to Dutch to English. Minor stuff to be sure, but something a keener eye should have caught in the editing process. Overall though, this volume on Gripen has a necessary place on the bookshelf of both aviation enthusiast and military analyst for years to come. The photography and design diagrams alone are worth the purchase price, and this book lives up to the standard set by the Aerofax banner.

The next few years will be crucial for Gripen, as it nears the end of its production run and fulfillment of its current foreign order book. Without follow-on orders from the Swedes or a substantial export order, the production line may close and this graceful aircraft will slowly age its way into obsolescence. Conversely, should the US Joint Strike Fighter be delayed, countries like Denmark, Norway, and Australia may look to Gripen as a ready-made affordable solution, ensuring its continued production for many more years. For now though, Gripen patrols the skies over 4 nations, vigilantly watching and protecting against external threats and ensuring a continued place for Swedish combat aircraft in enthusiast's hearts and the world's skies.

A.G. Corwin
St.Louis MO

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