> But buying a Eurofighter or Saab in 2025 seems silly. New avionics is not enough to make them competitive. Why would that be when the F35 flies like a turd,

> But buying a Eurofighter or Saab in 2025 seems silly. New avionics is not enough to make them competitive. Why would that be when the F35 flies like a turd, no matter which variant? Why would that matter if both F22 and F35 can go supersonic only in short bursts, because otherwise 'der lack ist ab', meaning the paint job and its stealthiness is gone, not to mention bad weather with heavy rain, snow, hail? Why would new avionics be necessary to be competitive, when the avionics with which they compete still seem like bananaware? Why is there no US-Aerobatics team flying that capricious crap? Other nations have very capable missiles, radars and AEW/ECM, too. It's not about the planes alone, but how they are integrated into operations, how much they cost to operate per unit/time flown, and how much time/man-power is needed to keep them that way between flights/turn around. Taking all this into account, combined with things like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erieye https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erieye mounted on something like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_R-99 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embraer_R-99 the Gripen seems like a very smart and economic choice. Have some crisp bread instead of the sugary cool aid: https://www.saab.com/products/gripen-e-series https://www.saab.com/products/gripen-e-series Or use another fluff piece like https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/forget-f-35-meet-the-jas-39-gripen-the-best-fighter-no-one-knows-about/ https://www.19fortyfive.com/2025/01/forget-f-35-meet-the-jas... if you don't want to rely on marketing material by the producer :)