Quote:
Originally Posted by Zulu29
Another drawback is its a single engine plane designed to defend a small land mass. We need something with range.
|
The Gripen can operate from significantly shorter and rougher airstrips, and has much lower maintenance complexity, so you could probably offset the shorter range with smaller, more numerous bases.
As it stands though, I don't think we have enough airbases to provide any kind of comprehensive border protection with a strike fighter type aircraft anyways - the F-35 doesn't fix that.