JAS 39 Gripen Has a Message for Canada and the F-35

By Jack Buckby – 19fortyfive

As the Canadian government grapples with a decision over the future of its fighter jet fleet, a key promise made by Saab that was designed to encourage Ottawa to choose its Gripen platform over Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II appears to come with a catch: the Canadian Armed Forces would need to buy 72 JAS 39 Gripen jets and six GlobalEye surveillance aircraft for its promise of creating Canadian jobs to be realized.