you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 1 point 11 hours ago (1 child)

I don't know about Rafale, but Gripen is known for being good at defense (namely shooting down drones), which is something traditional jet fighters have largely been relegated into since the start of war in Ukraine. Better anti-air defenses by both sides keep taking down planes when crossing into each other's territories. So, drones took on the offensive role when it comes to striking into enemy territory.

Going on a tangent, on land, Swedish Stridsvagn designed for defense actually performed better than its "cooler" and more "hardcore" NATO brothers Leopard and Abram tanks. The latter two were designed for offense with the assumption of a NATO structure in place; which Ukraine doesn't have and of course, drones again blunted the full potential of the traditional main battle tanks.

The war in Ukraine hasn't definitively made fighter planes and tanks obsolete, but the traditional assumptions about war technologies since World War II has been modified.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [–] [S] 1 point 9 hours ago

    Yes, it seems like Ukraine should have just purchased the Gripen.

    The Stridsvagn is a modified version of the Leopard 2. Both tanks are performing well in Ukraine although as you mentioned Ukraine had to adapt them to its tactics.

  • source
  • parent