To be clear, defining this class can appear arbitrary. Certainly, some main air forces lean on medium-weight fighters just like the F-16, Mirage 2000, and J-10 to drive their tactical airpower necessities. Nonetheless, whereas getting access to fighters just like the F-16, some international locations (e.g., Pakistan) couldn’t afford to purchase as many to interchange their giant variety of previous-generation plane, such because the MiG-19-derived F-6.
Right here, it’s price noting — particularly for Pakistan — that this financial and doctrinal constraint in the end created an inside requirement that resembles Ukraine’s wartime classes in the present day: fighters which can be adequate, obtainable in ample numbers, and maintainable in-house.
Likewise, Northrop was engaged on an answer (F-20 Tigershark) aimed toward such international locations, i.e., these working the earlier era of low-cost workhorse fighters, just like the Northrop F-5 or Dassault Mirage III/5, with an inexpensive, light-weight multirole platform. Nonetheless, not a single considered one of these new light-weight fighter platforms caught on to the identical diploma as their older-generation predecessors. Certainly, the Northrop F-20 was shelved totally.
In 2023, we posited that the rationale why light-weight multirole fighters (which we additionally termed as “tactical fighters” for brevity) didn’t see as a lot adoption previous their originating markets as a result of most states had not considered airpower as each a strategic enabler and key tactical fight device.
As a substitute, most markets had solely considered their airpower as a strategic enabler. So, for instance, Romania opted for the F-35 Lightning II. This choice arguably performs two roles: first, it delivers a component of deterrence by way of a succesful stealth fighter and, second, it additionally equips Romania to interoperate with NATO (and pool its fleet with different F-35s). In impact, the F-35 performs a strategic function throughout a number of fronts.
In distinction, the Gripen was designed as a cost-controlled, high-availability fighter for driving sortie quantity. It does so by way of easier upkeep processes, a lighter logistics footprint, and larger versatility by way of motorway operations. In impact, the Gripen is supposed to function in a hot-war state of affairs (analogous to Ukraine) the place, principally, direct navy participation from allies can’t be taken with no consideration.
Thus, a Gripen operator assumes that they are going to be on the frontlines on their very own – i.e., a actuality that Ukraine, Pakistan, India, and, for a time, Sweden all needed to combine into their doctrines.
Therefore, a possible F-35 operator assumes that they are going to work inside a wider, multi-national framework that stresses a deep degree of interoperability with allies, whereas a tactical fighter consumer functionally plans on preventing their very own wars. The latter want numbers, excessive availability charges, and help capability linked to 1’s indigenous business.
It was on this foundation that this creator – as early as 2023 – had projected that Ukraine would, finally, search the Gripen (or analogous fighter platform), as acknowledged right here:
That stated, it’s potential that sure ongoing occasions might push extra international locations to think about tactical fighters. For instance, the Russia-Ukraine Conflict is displaying {that a} low-cost, scalable, and high-technology asset just like the JF-17, Tejas, or FA-50 might have helped Kyiv in its area-denial efforts. Deploying a fighter with an AESA radar, BVRAAMs, and built-in digital countermeasures (ECM) might have paired properly with its ground-based air defence system (GBADS). Likewise, it might have benefitted from such a fighter throughout its blunted counteroffensive, which it blames partially to a scarcity of airpower. A low-cost tactical fighter might have been deployed in giant portions to cowl every operational theatre, drive excessive numbers of sorties, and maintain losses. Following this struggle, one can count on Ukraine to spend money on buying – if not domestically producing – such a fighter. Nonetheless, with aspirations to affix NATO, Kyiv will seemingly go for an answer that may its companions would settle for, such because the FA-50 from South Korea or the Saab Gripen.
Thus, Ukraine advanced right into a marketplace for tactical fighters as a consequence of its harsh experiences in preventing Russia. Furthermore, seeing Kyiv go for the Gripen is no surprise as, typically talking, the majority of any development on this market will likely be captured by a Western-leaning possibility, particularly the Gripen or the South Korean FA-50. The latter has seen adoption in Southeast Asia and Central Europe by way of Poland.
