Posted on 02/08/2019 6:41:29 PM PST by sukhoi-30mki
The commander of Sweden's air force, Mats Helgesson, recently made the bold statement that his country's Saab Gripen E fighter could beat Russia's formidable fleet of Sukhoi jets with none of the expensive stealth technology the US relies on.
"Gripen, especially the E-model, is designed to kill Sukhois. There we have a black belt," Helgesson told Yle.fi at a presentation in Finland, where Sweden is trying to export the jets.
Russia's Sukhoi fighters have achieved a kind of legendary status for their ability to out-maneuver US fighter jets in dogfights and pull off dangerous and aggressive stunts in the air, but Gripen may have cracked the code.
The Gripen can't carry the most weapons, has no real stealth, isn't the longest-range, fastest, or even cheapest jet, but it has a singular focus that makes it a nightmare for Russia's fighter jets.
Justin Bronk, an aerial combat expert at the Royal United Services Institute, told Business Insider that like the A-10 Warthog was built around a massive cannon, the Gripen was built around electronic warfare.
Virtually all modern jets conduct some degree of electronic warfare, but according to Bronk, the Gripen E stands above the rest.
Gripen pilots don't like to show their cards by demonstrating the full power of the jet's jamming in training, but according to Bronk, the one time they did, it completely reversed the course of the mock battle in training.
"Several years ago the Gripen pilots got tired of being made fun of by German Typhoon pilots and came to play with their wartime electronic warfare and gave them a hell of a hard time," said Bronk. One of the Gripens was "reportedly able to appear on the left wing of a Typhoon without being detected" by using its "extremely respected" jamming ability, said Bronk.
"It would be fair to assume the Gripen is one of the most capable electronic warfighters out there," he went on, adding that the Gripens that baffled the Typhoons were of the C/D series, which have much less powerful electronic warfare capabilities than the E series Gripens Helgesson described.
Who needs stealth?
To defeat Russia's fearsome fighters and surface-to-air missiles, the US has largely turned to stealth aircraft. Stealth costs a fortune and must be built into the shape of the plane.
If Russia somehow cracks the code of detecting stealth-shaped fighters, the US's F-35, the most expensive weapons system in history, is cooked.
But Saab took a different, and cheaper, approach to combating Russia's fighters and missiles by focusing on electronic attack, which gives them an advantage over stealth as they can evolve the software without a ground-up rebuild, according to Bronk.
Saab plans to update the software on the Gripen E every two years, giving it more flexibility to meet evolving challenges, according to Bronk.
But, "the problem with basing a survival strategy around an electronic warfare suite is you don't really know if it's going to work," he said. "Even if it does, it's going to be a constant battle between your adversary and you" to get the edge on the enemy fighters as wave forms and methods of attack continuously change.
However, Sweden benefits from a Russian focus on US fighters. "Sweden is too small really to optimize your counter-electronic warfare capabilities against," said Bronk.
If war broke out between Russia and the West, Russia would likely try hardest to push back on US electronic warfare rather than against Sweden's Gripen Es, which there would only be a few dozen of.
Flankers beware
The whole concept of the Gripen E is to "operate in Swedish territory, take advantage of all sorts of uneven terrain under cover of friendly surface-to-air missiles with a superb EW suite which should in theory keep it safe from the majority of Russian missiles and air to air threats," said Bronk.
Additionally, the Gripen E can fire almost any missile made in the US or Europe.
"If you couple a very effective radar with excellent EW and a Meteor, the most effective longest range air-to-air missile which is resistant against [Russia's] jammers... There's no reason not to assume it wouldn't be pretty damn effective," said Bronk. "If you're a flanker pilot, it's probably a very scary thing to face." Who needs stealth?
Yeah, it gives new meaning to turbine engines.
I always that Saab was the sound Saab owners made when they took their cars in for repairs and were handed the bill.
But in high school I was sort of thinking about buying a used Saab 2 stroke. Bought a ‘62 Chevy instead.
Russian arrogance far exceeds its real ability. It has an economy not much bigger than Mexico.
You gotta hate someone...know what I mean?
//kidding
Anyone who doesn’t think the US has the capability to screw up Russian avionics is mistaken.
That's the fairy-tale Russia wants you to believe. The reality is much different. You need to understand that Russia is the master of pys-ops, disinformation, and propaganda. Hell, they invented it.
I truly believe Russia faked the demise of the Soviet Union in order to regroup and get a leg up again.
You don’t know any Russians do you? Best comparison is running into a half a dozen mean drunks out on the town looking for trouble. Belligerent pride coupled with strength and minuscule morality quotent.
I remember reading how the retired EF-111A could shut off the lights of the whole east coast if it wanted to.
One sober black belt in Krav Maga will take down six drunk Russians in short order.
“When did we have even ONE dogfight?”
Exercises at Nellis with imported aircraft.
It wasn’t a matter of insisting; by the time of Gulf War II, the Pentagon had retired USAF EF-111 squadrons, and the EA-6B was the only option for escort jamming, before the advent of the E/A-18 Growler. The “Spark Vark” (EF-111) was very capable and actually more adept at escort/close-in jamming because it was faster and could keep up with fourth-generation strike aircraft. The EA-6B was optimized against a wider range of threats, and very useful in various jamming roles, even if it wasn’t quite as fast as the EF-111.
Jamming platforms are the classic low-density/high-demand asset. Getting rid of the EF-111 (without a replacement) was a mistake, but the Air Force was overruled by DoD, which gave the tactical jamming mission to the Navy.
And contrary to what the Swedes say, the ideal approach to beating the Russians (or any other peer/near-peer competitor is not electronic combat alone. Indeed, EC (or radio electronic combat, as the Russians call it) is an integral part of Russian military doctrine and tactics. The best way to overcome the Russkie threat is a combination of stealth, EC (including cyber), stand-off weapons, real-time intel integration, training and tactics, to name a few.
The Russian AF has little combat experience over the last 50 years, and they don’t have large force employment exercises like Red Flag, where all elements of air combat are exercised. Ditto for the Chinese. Technology is great, but if you’re not able to employ it optimally—and in a tactically advantageous manner—your chances for victory are greatly reduced.
The Gripen E is a very nice bird. The Russian fighters can do some interesting flight maneuvers. However, that just means that they die faster.
The entire green movement became the communist front.
Global warming and climate change, all pushed by socialist idiots. Economy killers. Socialists.
Our kids and young people have had such terrible public school brainwashing they cant tell how stupid they are, think they are brilliant, think feelings trump facts, and buy into the progressive propaganda fed to them since day 1.
So.... a HARM target?
with luck Russian and US fighters will never meet in combat.
I predict Russia and America may turn out to be allies in the next big war against China and her allies: North Korea, Iran, Turkey, and Cuba.
Sweden is a hellhole. It’s the Rape Capitol of Europe. That’s Islam for you.
Steve, I’m retired Air Force. I know all about Red Flag and the 414th Combat Training Squadron.
They don’t use Russian jets there. They use F15’s and 16’s to emulate enemy forces. You can look it up.
To be fair, both the Swedes and the Finns have a long history of fighting the Russians. It’s tradition, like eating half-rotted fish.
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