French Mirage fighter jets useless for Ukraine Article at Business Insider

NATO and facing a very dangerous surface-to-air missile threat.

Essentially, it was designed for the exact conditions in which Ukraine is fighting, Caliber.Az repots citing Business Insider.

Sweden's Gripen is considered by experts to be a highly capable, effective, and efficient fighter.

It is relatively inexpensive to operate, easy to maintain, and requires less runway space than some other aircraft for taking off and landing.

The jet also features advanced electronic-warfare capabilities that were specifically designed to be able to counter the radars on Russian aircraft and ground-based air-defense systems.

Furthermore, the Gripen can be equipped with various air-to-surface missiles and bombs, as well as longer-range air-to-air missiles. Among the latter is the Meteor air-to-air missile, which, with a range of up to 80 miles, delivers a much longer reach than the French MICA and even some Russian weaponry.

Compared to the F-16 and Mirage, the Gripen is far more flexible in terms of operational requirements — especially when it comes to cost and maintenance — and is more resource-efficient.

The downsides of the Swedish aircraft are that it has yet to see combat and is rather limited in availability, unlike the F-16 and its support systems, which are available across Europe.

Sweden previously explored sending Gripens to Ukraine, but those considerations were recently put on hold to allow Kyiv to focus on the F-16. But France has announced its intention to send the Mirage, seemingly contradicting this rationale.

"Why you would then have another non-F-16 fighter being supplied that is less effective for Ukraine's requirements and less well-suited in every way than the Gripen seems slightly odd," Bronk said.