Why opting for Gripen, is much better for IAF than going for Old Horse F-16 !!

Indian Air Force has kicked off a contest for acquiring at least 100 or more single engine jet fighter. Two major that have participated in this contest is US Major Lockheed Martin and Swedish Saab Aerospace Limited. Official Request For Information (RFI) will be issued soon within this month or next. But the question is which fighter is best suited for the role the Indian Air Force wants from the fighter of this deal ?

First of all, F-16 and Gripen despite using same General Electric engine is completely different from each other. Where F-16 has come off its whole age, and there is no further scope left for its upgradation.

Secondly, F-16 has a biggest disadvantage in terms of India, and that is, our rival neighbour Pakistan have been using this same jet for the last couple of decades, and they are very much aware of its avionics, techs and capabilities.

Thirdly, F-16's future as export brand is very much in question as many nations who operates this popular fighter, have been either in the process of its decommissioning or have already decommissioned it.

Fourthly, Chinese operates a large variety of Flankers, whether its copied from the original Russian versions, that is not a matter here, but their Flankers can easily outperform it in every aspect, which have been proved in several exercises in Red Flag during Indian Su-30MKI's encounter with the F-16's where F-16 couldn't even won a single round.

Fifthly, Lockheed Martin still has not guaranteed fully to commit on Transfer of Technology, which is must in the deal.

Sixth, F-16 has a lower cost to buy than the Gripen, but its operating cost is much higher than Gripen. Which should be a priority for the Govt and IAF both party.

On the other hand if we discuss and look into Gripen's disadvantages, then we can see that it can be solved easily...

Firstly, as per critics, biggest disadvantage of Gripen is its engine as it is American one, the same one which is used on LCA Tejas, the General Electric GE F-404IE. But it is not known to everyone that this engine is now manufactured in Sweden as a new one under joint venture between Volvo Aerospace and General Electric under the name 'RM12 Turbofan engine'. So India can get the technology of this engine directly from Sweden and Saab offers to build the engines too in India with full T-O-T.

Secondly, Critics also argues that the cost of Gripen is very high for a single engine fighter. But they forgot to mention that its operating cost is very cheaper than F-16. It will be much cheaper further in India's case, as Gripen can be maintained in the same facility of LCA Tejas production because of its similar capabilities, engine, configuration and resources. Thus reducing the maintenance cost further which will be a win win situation for IAF.

Thirdly, Gripen is completely a new fighter in comparison to F-16, and it has great future ahead as Saab has already said that they will upgrade Gripen every 2 year and India too will get those upgrades, thus making Gripen a relevant fighter for decades.

Fourthly, Gripen's new data link software which is now proved to be the best one in the world even surpassing that of the F-35 Stealth fighter of the United States. It uses a data link code named 'Link-17' which can perform combined tracking if 5 or more Gripen flies together, then each and every Gripen's radar will be combined and each of this Gripen's radar range is 200km, together 5 Gripen can cover (5x200= )1,000 km with their weapons together. This is very unique in air warfare. Gripen's radar can even track stealth fighters from Beyond Visual Range which is first in a 4.5th gen fighter !!!

Fifth, Saab has already told media that it is fully committed to support India's 'Make In India' campaign and it is completely ready to transfer important technologies of the fighter including Gallium Nitrade tech which is used in its AESA radar. It is even offering co-operation in Tejas Mk2 and AMCA project with avionics tech transfer and it is even ready to transfer the technology of that superb data link software 'Link-17' !!

Verifying all these aspects, I don't think IAF will go for F-16 at any level, although we can see Govt's tilt towards F-16, despite IAF's clear preference for Gripen. It is to be seen whether the Govt choose to impress US President Donald Trump or to grant the choice of the Indian Air Force for the betterment of country's good. Choosing the later one can be expected from Modi Sarkar as it has always preferred the right and valuable things over absurd one. It is all up to our new Defence Minister Mrs. Nirmala Sitharaman who is doing good job as of now.