Saab JAS - 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen ( English : Griffin ) is a lightweight multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab . Gripen International acts as a prime contracting organisation and is responsible for marketing , selling and supporting the Gripen fighter around the world . Description . Gripen is the lightest of the new - generation fighters that are going into operation early this century , having been designed from the outset as a fully multifunctional since the first scratch on paper . The current fighters like the F - 16 or F - 18 also are multifunctional , but to fulfill a mission to attack the full potential of the aircraft , they have to put some specific modules of the avionics so that a plane ready to attack ground targets have a certain capacity for air combat , and vice versa . Gripen does not happen because all you need is there , flying with you , simply hit certain buttons to change the mission . This capability is unprecedented and certainly a great tactical advantage and trade , facilitating a better cost benefit of that aircraft on the international market . The Gripen is fitted with a Volvo motor RM - 12 which actually is a version of the engine General Electric F - 404 used in the F / A - 18 Hornet fighters from the United States . this engine provides a thrust of 8050 kgf , being slightly more potent than the North American version of original orbital . This engine is extremely reliable and allows hard acceleration without the appearance of problems . Another great advantage of the Gripen in the international market is the ability to arm you with a huge variety of weapons from various sources . So you can team it with Mica missiles if the U . S . government veto the sale of AMRAAM for your country , or even , we can adapt it to Russian missile R - 77 . This capability is unique and makes it very attractive market hunts . The maneuverability of this fighter is very good too , being better than the F - 16 , one of its direct competitors in the market for fighters . Indeed , the delta canard type aerodynamic configuration found in Europe ' s new generation fighter is very efficient in the field of maneuverability and agility , leaving behind many modern fighters . Even the arms of Gripen , one can mention the powerful anti - ship missile Bofors RBS - 15F , which is transported in pairs . With a range of 200 km and a warhead of 200 kg pre - fragmented , can by sheer most warships known to one impact . To fight air to air short range missile IRIS - T , which is nearing final approval , should be the main type of missile to be used by Gripen . Currently the short - range missile used is already classical , Raytheon AIM - 9L Sidewinder . Internally Gripen uses a Mauser BK - 27 cannon caliber 27 mm and a rate of 1700 shots / min allows efficiency against air targets and light armored . From the standpoint of avionics , the Gripen has a multi - mode radar pulse - Doppler Ericsson PS - 05 / A , with a capacity look - down / shoot - down ( look down and shoot down ) feature that facilitates destroy targets are the Gripen flying down or even close to the ground , a situation which usually represents a fact complicating the fight . The radar can work in four different air - air modes : a ) Track - while - search , track and engage multiple air targets , b ) Priority - target - tracking , more accurate for targets engaged , while also tracks other targets ; c ) Single - target - tracking , air - air mode for use of cannon , for example d ) Air - combat - mode for automatic detection of air targets in combat . Mode air - ground targets as small as a car can be traced for distances of 90 km The ability of PS - 05 more than three times the capacity of Processing the radar of its predecessor , the PS - 46 , installed on the JAS - 37 Viggen and with only 60 % of this volume . Even this is a good radar equipment , and adequate performance is under study for its replacement by a new AESA radar with electronic scanning , which will increase even more , the combat capabilities of the Gripen . But the formidable capabilities of this plane did not end there . It has the best system for transmitting and receiving data via data link in the world . Through this system , the Gripen can operate with the radar off , just getting data from the enemy positions from the other fighters , or earth , or a plane of Airborne Early Warning AEW or AWACS . So it becomes very difficult to detect by the enemy . This system was used by the Americans who installed a similar system in the F - 22 Raptor , but with many restrictions of compatibility . The data link enables the Gripen which open new possibilities tactics to attack or intercept an intruder , so with the another aircraft this is not possible without modernization . Gripen will receive an IRST sensor for passive identification and designation of long - range , allowing better use of new off boresight missiles that are entering the market today . Gripen is a fighter which if used correctly , requires a strong deterrence to potential enemies inhibiting adventures warring against his nation . Operators . Czech Republic Thailand