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Sweden was publicly clear they weren't going to make the Gripen available to Ukraine, the planes exist in small enough quantities that some new manufacturing wo
by justin66 3y ago
Sweden was publicly clear they weren't going to make the Gripen available to Ukraine, the planes exist in small enough quantities that some new manufacturing would need to happen in order for any of its operators to swap their existing inventory out and give it to Ukraine (not impossible in the long run since there is a new variant that some countries might want to acquire someday, but not happening in the short term), and - this is the big one - there are roughly twenty times as many F-16s in service worldwide as there are Gripens.
Everything that's commonly said about the Gripen performing admirably in rugged conditions and the F-16 being particularly vulnerable to foreign object damage is certainly true, but Ukraine would happily throw people and resources at the problem of maintaining intact and clean runways.
- smcl 3y agoI think the question of which ally would supply what to Ukraine was generally pretty flexible - there were various statements about not supplying hardware like Bradley, Leopard, Challenger and F-16, I guess due to Russian threats about how it'd consider that an "escalation". But those appear to have melted away, so I just figured such statements were to be taken with a pinch of salt.
- justin66 3y agoFlexible is right, but with the weird caveat that the company which manufactures the hardware (and the nation in which it's headquartered) generally gets a veto when it comes to any one of its customers sending any given item to Ukraine, if they want it. That's about the contracts and terms military hardware is sold under, and the need for ongoing maintenance contracts. It's why Germany, after gifting Ukraine with some anti-aircraft equipment, couldn't send surplus Oerlikon ammo to Ukraine. Switzerland, where the ammo was manufactured, would not allow it. (not because it was a Russia-provoking "escalation" but because they're a neutral country with something in their law prohibiting sending arms into conflict zones... which also has an export-oriented arms industry for some reason)
- PedroBatista 3y agoYeah, the Swiss neutrality has the same quirks and hypocrisies of every neutrality that ever existed. Specially when it has a relevant arms industry. With the banking part it was always easier to skate most pressures because at the end of the day the World is controlled by rich people and they all have interest in the "safety" of Switzerland. With weapons they are in this narrow "Buy now from us, because we will not sell during the your conflict.". When sh*t hits the fan these typical Swiss dances don't work and I'm guessing they'll have an hard time selling anything of relevance in the future..
- justin66 3y agoI don't have any insight into Swiss politics (and I might not be up to date on the news in this area) but it surprises me that they didn't find a way to make an exception for Germany and Ukraine, given it would have involved a purely defensive weapon system that saves a lot of civilian lives. And it would perhaps have saved their arms export industry.