The Swedish Saab Gripen E / F finds colors in Thailand after the refusal of Washington to deliver F-35

The Saab Gripen E/F single-engine fighter is back in favor with the Thai air force after the United States refused to sell the F-35A to Bangkok as expected by the Thai general staff.

In January 2022, the Chief of Staff of the Thai Air Force, Air Chief Marshal Napadej Dhupatemiya, said in an interview given to the Bangkok Post, thathe preferred the acquisition of 7 F-35A to that of as many Saab Gripen E/F in order to replace part of the F-5 and F-16 currently in service, as part of the modernization of the Thai Air Force.

For the general officer, the F-35A was more economical and more efficient than the Swedish aircraft, while Thailand is already implementing a squadron of Gripen C/D, the most modern aircraft in its fleet.

However, at the time already, the declarations of the Air Chief Marshal Napadej Dhupatemiya, had something to leave perplexed. On the one hand, the economic calculation presented was to say the least uncertain and capilotracted, advancing in particular that the F-35A was very likely to reach an export sale price of $70 million, which, already in January 2022, was far from be the trajectory envisaged by specialists in the subject, who rather anticipated a rise in the device on the occasion of the next batches under negotiation.

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