JAS-39A In War Thunder : A Basic Review
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- Опубліковано 16 чер 2024
- Checking out the JAS-39A Gripen, a Swedish jet designed to do everything!
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I'm all over the place!
Twitter : / timsvariety
Facebook : / timsvarietygaming
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TIMESTAMPS
00:00 Intro & History
02:22 Systems & Weapons
04:29 Flight Performance
06:24 Combat Tactics
08:46 Miscellaneous
09:38 Conclusions - Ігри
Tim, point of order, the RB 74 is just the Swedish nomenclature for the sidewinder, it is not comparable to the sidewinder, it is a sidewinder. Same thing for the RB71, it is not broadly comparable to the skyflash, it is the skyflash, the RB 75 is the Maverick…
Specifically, the RB74 is the AIM-9L, imported and redesignated in Swedish service. Technically there isn't an RB74(M), as Sweden never imported the AIM-9M; RB74(M) was made wholesale by Gaijin in order to give Sweden a competitive IR missile for the current meta. Gaijin basically fudged that late-production RB74s would have the smokeless motor and IRCCM of the -9M, and in order to distinguish these from the already-existant RB74, we got the RB74(M).
IRL, Sweden kept with the RB74 (AIM-9L) until they upgraded to the RB98 (the German-designed IRIS-T), which I suspect we won't get for a while yet (probably when the Eurofighter Typhoon comes, I suspect).
I know, but I try not to phrase it like that, since gaijin might change some minor in-game stat for no reason, then my comments get flooded with "Ackshually, the seeker time is 0.3 seconds less!!!" type of comments.
@@TimsVariety”Ackshually the Rb74 used silver wiring for the detonator mechanism for the warhead”🤓
@@smogdanoff7053... exactly ...
@@zanaduz2018 the Rb 74 was upgraded to the m standard from 1992 onward. There was no name change as the missiles were considered essentially identical. Source was sent to gaijin a while ago showing the import of irccm seekers for the rb 74 as well as some armament catalogs listing irccm for the rb 74 on the gripen. What was never confirmed was the aim 9m on the viggen 37d which was developed during the missile upgrade. Swedish also never adopted the aim 9x.
Tldr the rb74 is both the aim 9l and aim 9m in real life.
Anyone else like Tim’s videos as soon as they click on them?
Ofc, since you already know that the video is good before even seeing it :D
Me, i do. He is deserving.
Geez, jury duty and such quality is unprecedented
Gotta deliver for my subscribers o7
Thankfully jury duty is over. "Back to normal" this week.
This is my personal favourite plane in the patch, it's crazy strong in a dogfight situation
No joke dude It plays with the mirage 2k and 4k like a cat does a mouse
It’s getting nerfed tomorrow
@@norske_ow3440 say sike rn
Arguably the best top tier fighter for ARB with the 720 countermeasures; 6x Aim-9Ms, HMD and great flight performance
Dont forget about that godly flyby gripen scream, puts the Flanker to shame with its howl
British main here and I have to say that I love how the dev implemented her in the British tech tree since I was about to regret my decision not grinding the Swedish tree. Overall, I appreciated your deep review about the gripen Tim! thanks mate
Same, I am still 3 planes away from the Gripen in Sweden, and was worried top tier UK was going to be left even further behind with increasingly modern aircraft and the Tornados being pushing in game to a role they were never intended for.
I feel like Gaijin is bound to give the Eurofighter Typhoon in the next few updates… which Britain desperately needs. (Germany would also benefit, of course, but since they have the MiG-29G they don’t need it as much.)
@@zanaduz2018 I expect next year at somepoint. Just unsure as to what would come out at the same time for other nations. Getting close to the point now where there's no top tier planes to add for many nations, much the same way ground is at current technology levels. Gaijin have a tricky couple of years ahead of them if they want to keep putting 'new' stuff out to grind for, and not just filling out WW2 or Cold War era equipment.
Beware the power creep
If you'll allow me to get nitpicky with the loadouts on the gripen if you want to take 4/2 then take the 9Ms with the flare pods on the inner pylons a they are closer in line with the engine while also being further forward allowing for both a tighter flare pattern and slightly longer obfuscation of the aircraft which is important after the rise-time update to the flares so they actually become marginally better for you.
Yeah, but it makes it look weird and we all know looks>practicality, otherwise I wouldn't have the esports neon colour skins on my tanks.
I wish you could carry them on the wingtips. More flares, plus I usually fire them first and like to ditch wingtip weight first. But you bring up a valid point that I never thought about
The final verdict. Is exactly what it's aimed for. Jakt, attack och spaning JAS, Hunt, attack and reconnaissance. Jack of all trades, master of none. While also being fairly easy to operate as mentioned. This means the crew on the ground can be "less" educated on the aircraft to keep it perational if need be. So proud to have it in war thunder. (My father's friend helped to develop the fuel injections back in early stages)
Awesome to have a personal connection to it like that!
Hunt? Does it hunt moose? Interception please.
@@ja37d-34 It can, as long as you don't need anything left of the Moose ..
@@TimsVariety lol, well, we have these dickheads that have trouble translating stuff. Our "Jägare" are transalted into "Hunters" aetc when in reality it should be "Ranger".. They are not fucking hunting mosse, either.. Just would be great if these morons got it some time.
@@ja37d-34Hunt as in ships
You know, I'm starting to believe that the missile doesn't always know where it is at all times. And perhaps it doesn't always know where it is at all times because it doesn't always know where it isn't...
Tim sounded genuinely concerned when he warned us about the Gripens speed, felt like I was some soon to be pilot for a second 😂
ive literally been waiting years for this exact video. thank you tim!
and I've been waiting to make it :-)
specifically from your channel, too. Today was a good day.@@TimsVariety
I'm always so impressed with the engineers from my country.
Fan vad vi är bra.
Viggen är coolare dock. Manligare. Gripen är som en liten plastbrud med fillers och silikontuttar. Viggen, riktiga former.
@@ja37d-34 du har bara sickness for the thickness och en förkärlek för reverse thrusting.
Kan inte klaga, det är så jag vill ha mina kvinnor med.
@@ja37d-34Gripen > Draken > Viggen enligt mig, de är dock i top 5 av mina favorit flygplan alla tre.
Major landing distance tip: Once you're down properly, hit and hold your pitch-down key. The canards will 'overtravel' forward, acting like an extra pair of airbrakes. It doesn't reduce stop distance as much as a drag-chute would, but it helps.
Also the IR-plus-CM mounts are currently bugged. They're weightless in the loadout modification screen, and the missiles are classified as a different type to the wingtip missiles.
The "use-elevators-as-airbrake" trick works with other planes besides Gripen - in fact, that technique has been in the game since at least the F-4C Phantom back in 1.81. In the Phantom's case, you would command nose-up with its all-flying-tail to get maximum airbraking drag (although since Phantoms get drag chutes/tailhooks, you won't notice it as much).
cant wait for when you review the M4K next its one of the best things about this update that people arent talking about
This aircraft are the literal F-5 of Top Tier
Not for long
@@norske_ow3440 until the coming of Eurofighter and Rafale I guess, which is not very much different with Gripen.
In WT, they will be gripens with more missiles and higher TWR@@muhamadafrifauzi5695
I cannot describe the levels of joy i have that this is in the game now I have been waiting forever for this beautiful piece of engineering and now that Tim's review is out I get to enjoy an echo chamber on how I feel about it 😁😁😁😁😁
Great Video as Always! Man iam looking Forward to the Eurofighter
Another awesome video by war thunder's most informative content creator. Always a good day when I see a new one of these videos. Hope the new year goes well for you Tim and that you finally get recognised for your efforts by the Snail.
Thank you! Now to grind the Viggen JA37D until I'm dead. Glad to see it got it's more correct radars too.
I really love this plane. And with the six M's this fits perfectly for my playstyle. And of course: Sweden got a competitive CAS plane. Great review as always Tim! Thx a lot! ❤
She is definitely one of the coolest and most beautiful looking planes out of all times, I just love that design 😍
This is my new fave jet in the game. Unlocked it Saturday and been playing it since. Granted I play arcade, but averages 10 kills per match already. It's like the F-16C on steroids. I run all AIM9M's and turn the radar off so enemies aren't alerted of approach. Same issue with turning, can't do a full speed turn on the gripen even with max level pilots.
i love your videos they are always entertaining & interesting to watch.
Honestly glad to actually finally see this aircraft added.
For those who are like me and enjoy sim, my tip for it is the 4/2 setup with RB74 and RB71 respectively while finding a small to medium size map (like port moresby) and finding a mountain area to use for cover forcing enemies to get within visual range where you'll outclass most of them, on the map i mentioned the top right of the map is a great spot
Man, I love the Gripen!
A point for landing,
When you do land, point the canards down (mouse down).
This does help you slow down quite substantially.
I thought gripen can use its canards as additional air break when landing? Ashame it's not a feature, Gaijin even stated this fact on their website.
It is weird that they didn't implement it despite mentioning it on their website.
It can IRL , but as far as I could tell it didn't have any noticeable effect in-game.
It can be... but you have to angle the canards yourself manually by pushing the nose down after your nosewheel is on the ground (drop your mouse below the horizon once the nosewheel is on the ground). This trick also works with other jets too - Phantoms, Eagles, Tomcats, Flankers, etc.
If you want to know about it's flight performance, currently the gripen does everything much better than any F-16 except raw climb rate. The sustained turn rate is north of 26º/s on min fuel while the f-16 block10 is "just" 24 if you manage your speeds well
F-16 and MiG-29: Who are you?
JAS-39: I'm you, but better.
This is the best thing I ever saw.
**MAN** I want this. I *really* want it. Trouble is, I have another 4 planes to grind (after the one I'm currently on) before I can even start to grind it... Gonna be a busy few weeks!
The amount of times I've seen opponents break to the right for the initial headons (If you've played top tier you probably understand how after takeoff everyone generally goes left) and sit there running circles around 6-7 planes is honestly incredible. They just put periodic countermeasures on and no one can ever launch a missile properly at them, and they are freaking tiny with insane agility so also end up being hard to hit with guns.
I did this once was hilarious watching an f16c .4km behind unable to pull lead for 30seconds while I just kept circling and firing at planes that didn’t turn as good lol
9:18 is ironic how it lands in some much space, when in reality it can land on short improvised runaway, using it's forward canards as airbrakes
If you know how to do a short landing it very much can. I’ve landed it with a touchdown of 142km/h which is slower than a lot of prop planes. Fly in nose high with roughly 40% thrust, and after touchdown hold down elevator to “airbrake”. Tim did a conventional landing to show how difficult, but if you are skilled you can land in a very short distance
A lot of people are grinding Swedish air right now for that sweet sweet Gripen, have you thought about redoing your vids on other swedish aircraft?
You're doing amazing work, keep it up!
I recently redid my review of the Saab-105G
RB 74 literally is the designation for the AIM-9L they are the same missile. Both the Skyflash (RB 71) and AIM-9M (RB 74(M)) are ahistorical on this jet, with the radar not being able to guide CW missiles period (IRL using AMRAAM and Meteor) and the AIM-9M never being in service with Sweden hence the strange designation (Sweden uses the IRIS-T instead). RB 75 is literally the AGM-65B.
I know (and send the snail some feedback about the inaccurate weapon selection), but I try not to phrase it like that, since gaijin might change some minor in-game stat for no reason, then my comments get flooded with "Ackshually, the seeker time is 0.3 seconds less!!!" type of comments.
Yes, but there are explanations for both of them. The Rb 71 was never carried operationally in this plane, but it was promoted as compatible in the manuals and brochures of the prototypes and technology demonstrators in the 80s and 90s. Most likely the main reason why we never saw JAS 39 with Skyflash missiles was because the missile itself was being retired in the 90s in favour of the AMRAAM.
The Rb 74(M) is, indeed, a fictional missile. But once again, at some time during the 90s, and before Sweden fully integrated the IRIS-T in ~2005, the Swedish air force bought a number of IRCCM seekers and smokeless engines to upgrade a small amount of their Rb 74 missiles, but they didn't change the designation. The most fictional part of the missile in game is that irl it was not a copy-paste of the AIM-9M, although both should perform similarly. This was correctly sourced and suggested in the WT forums before this update, you can look it up.
Best jet in the patch. Its countermeasure load makes it basically invincible and 6 of the M missiles are cowabunga-tier 3-6 kills per game.
Would like to really add my appreciation on the extra level of detail you go into over many others. I very much enjoy the history of the aircraft, as well as you taking the time to show both air and ground capabily, along with cockpits and landing. I wish you a happy Christmas and prosperous new year Tim 💙💛
My hope is that talking for a minute about the IRL history/context helps people ... like, care about the vehicle a little more and enjoy it as something more than just a points-machine, if that makes sense.
@@TimsVariety It does! Also helps place the context of the machine, against a backdrop where everything in a game is expected to be a perfect balance.
Great video, Tim!
Would we be able to get a full analysis video of each 4th gen jet compared? Including the earlier added ones like the F-16 or Mig29
I try not to do "tier list" type of things, as it creates a lot of drama, but I've been considering making a series kindof summarizing each rank from 1 though 8. We'll see.
@@TimsVariety I think that idea is definitely interesting!
Thanks Tim - I love my Gripen - I have the Brit version - 6 x AiM9M's is fun as!
It's kind of amusing. Everyone was soooo excited for the F-15 and Su-27, but the Gripen ended up being the meta jet of this update lol
The extra factors about taking off from small spaces and the like became more and more of a marketing thing by the time the gripen came out.
They otherwise collaborated with BAE and Dassault on the eurofighter and then took the data to create the gripen, because without the prosuction of a domestic fighter saab was in real risk of vanishing.
Not a detraction; just interesting.
Gotta love War Thunder, were I have to buy the plane crew qualification because if I don't the basic qualification limit at its full max for G-force tolerance is around 6.7Gs and have a disadvantage to people with higher crew qualifications and can sustain 9gs without losing control as fast.....
Yeah... thats a huge issue ...
Each review of a top-tier jet I produce costs me 3000GEs to ace the pilot.....
1:10
Saab (Svenska Aeroplan Aktiebolaget) JAS (Jakt/Attack/Spaning) 39 Gripen
Saab (Swedish Aeroplane Corporation) JAS (Hunt/Attack/Reconnaissance - multirole combat aircraft) 39 Gripen (Griffin)
This is the only plane that i´ve enjoyed even if i do sht haha, I hope future planes are like this, this reminds me of the 3.0 BR P-51
Ive been grinding for this jet since sweden was added to the game... the time has come
Give it extra points for the gripen Howl that even puts the flanker whine to shame
Gripen my beloved 😻
This is why I want a Hungarian air tree so much. The Gripen is such a cool jet, and it seems to be a monster in a dogfight in War Thunder. Since I'm not grinding British or Swedish top-tier jets anytime soon, that's the closest I'll ever be to one, or two if we get the C and D.
Italy may get the Hungerian one at some point.
@@TimsVariety I'm just confused by Gaijin's standards for sub-trees. South Africa got their ground tree, but no air tree at all. Finland got both the ground and air tree at the same time. Hungary got a ground tree, and no air tree.
But now, South Africa gets their JAS39C, and no other aircraft, no sign of a bigger tree. Hungary didn't get the same plane, and Italy is the only nation to not get a new top-tier plane this update.
I have to wonder what the hell Gaijin is doing, because it makes no sense.
@@ODST_Parker there are generally larger holes in GRB lineups, since you need to bring multiple vehicles instead of one, meaning that gaijin probably cares more about fleshing out every aspect of a tree than just one. Gripen was probably only added to britain because they didnt have anything else at top tier
@@economicssimulator5979 We have an F-16A and an AV-8B, those are not up to par with the other top-tier planes. We won't be getting anything new either, not until new missiles like the AMRAAM and ASRAAM.
It is easily the most modern jet roughly 20 years newer than the F15 and SU-27 so it should be the best Jet in WarThunder without competition. Unless you "balance" things to make it not dominating too much.
Ahh... So they have not implemented the substitution system for a drag shoot yet? Gripen is made to be able to stop on short runways, not only to take off on them. But to make it stop quicker it does not only deploy air brakes but also use the canards as air brakes. Which works pretty well from what I have seen.
If you hold down elevator they will go into “airbrake mode”
@@norske_ow3440 Ahh.... Nice. How well does it work?
First and VERY EXCITED FOR THIS!!! Love your work Tim :) and Happy Holidays!
But how does it stack up against mig 29s, f16s, f15s and su27s since that’s what it’ll pair against mostly?
What does the IRST: Auto Tracker do?
So happy they gave it the HMD, would've been kinda trash without it
Sadly we don't get that super short land and take off model in the game
As crazy as this sounds, the Czech and Hungarian JAS 39s are actually leased from Saab and not actually owned by their respective governments.
35 years of Gripen in 2023
The only good Swedish jet past 10.7 imo. Shame the Ja37’s are so outclassed now at toptier
The j 39 can use its xanards as airbrakes for landing
2:40 what is going on with that mach cone? going into warp or something?
Lens flare through the mach cone, and DLSS doing DLSS things. Came out REALLY weird looking.
Why do you use the radar HMD when using the 9Ms? Wouldn't that be setting off peoples RWR and partially negating the benefit of the 9M which is being sneaky and having no smoke trail.
It helps maintain a seeker lock through pre-flares before launching, and I like to have the EEGS ready if things get close enough for a gun solution. If they're close enough for the HMD lock, they've already spotted me.
@@TimsVariety Hm okay, the way I play the Gripen is I play close to the ground and get in peoples flanks so I turn off my radar to keep the element of surprise best I can.
@@DragoneyeVII Totally legit tactic, this jet is 100% flexible enough for almost any playstyle.
Good maneuverability and rips itself apart at high speeds? This is the a21rb all over again
it actually has a pretty poor twr, below 1 while most jets at this tier have a twr above that, with things like the eagle and flanker almost reaching 1.2. with combat loads they’re lower, but it’s still one of the things about the gripen i never understood, is that when clean it’s got a sub 1 twr
twr? Sorry I don't know all the jargon
Very low drag more than makes up for it. It’s one of very few planes that can actually supercruise with a full weapon loadout and fuel tank at only a few thousand meters altitude
Also better then anything in the british air tree
Oh no I was late for this
Ive recently somewhat fallen for the Gripen as a modern multi-role fighter aircraft. Regardless of its fantastic airframe it just overall is a very capable platform. Why more countries dont buy it is beyond me, especially those with more limited military budgets. LOTS of bang for your buck, so-to-speak. It should be very competitive on the market, but it seems American companies often bully their way on top even when the cheaper option would be more suited.
Worth doing some surface level research into the gripen, fascinating aircraft.
Think the reason ppl usually in general buy from american companies is a lot of planes like the F-15 and F-16 along witb planes have had years of combat experience
The Gripen has many downsides that aren't seen in the game. It has really poor range and weak engines. These two factors don't appear in War Thunder in any meaningful way so this plane plays better than it realistically would. The newest model of the Gripen, the Gripen NG, has addressed these issues in meaningful ways to make it the amazing plane people think it is. The problem with the new model is cost. It is cheaper to buy an F-35 than a Gripen NG, and the NG still has the worst range out of all the modern Gen 4 fighters.
Buying American also makes the most sense if you main defense plan involves fighting with the Americans. You will easily fit into the American logistical network and the US has key interest to keep allies fighting for political and optics reasons.
@BulletRain100 I'm not taking war thunder as a basis for the aircraft in reality. But I see your point, I happen have an unfair bias against the f35.
My point is that the cheaper variants C or D, on paper at least, would be better for many smaller nations with restrictive budgets even if its not the most capable multirole platform available
I wonder if it's possible to evade an IR missile using lava from the erupting volcanoes on the new Air map.
Also should have waited for this review because they just added skins today.
What!? For the gripen?
How average is a bad aspect?
The gripen is a good dogfighter but i won it in a f14b
Idk what you mean by bad aspect. but if you beat it in an f14, that was a very bad gripen pilot or he had a very low level crew and blacked out. It eats f16c easily, but you have to REALLY know how to manage speed.(mainly how to force it to slow tf down lol)
@@norske_ow3440 the f14 turns better at low speeds, you can control the fight like this if will
What's the difference between this and the C variant in the brithish tech tree?
As far as I could tell at a quick glance, they look like copy/paste.
There might be some small differences in empty weight or something, but I haven't checked the datamines.
@@TimsVariety okay, thanks for the answer
@@balintblazso6069supposedly it’s slightly heavier, but I don’t think it’s noticeable. And it has agm65b which is better? Idk I’m not a ground player
Interesting how no one seems to realize South Africa finally got their own aircraft this update, being a Grippen :)
I had planned to do a dedicated review of it at some point in a few months after the current meta adapts to the new vehicles.
@@TimsVariety lovely, I also really enjoyed this video. You always do a great job on this series of content
I don't think people forgot that South Africa got a Gripen; I think the content creators are handling it separately from its Swedish JAS39A counterpart because the C-model that flies for the South Afrircans is notably heavier than the A-model that the Swedes are using right now. The extra weight primarily is avionics upgrades intended to support missiles that we don't have in-game (yet), namely the RB101 (the Meteor air-to-air missile)
@@zanaduz2018 oh, that's cool
@@zanaduz2018 South Africa don´t use the Meteor though..
A Swedish C does at a certain point. New AMRAAMs were also ordered in november..
Im just missing the IRST, im pretty sure that gripens carry this feature irl.
RB 98, yes. But not until the C iirc. it is pretty modern too..
There was a program back in the day where they mounted HMS and IRST on a JA37D along with an IRST nose pod for a JAS 39A, that and the JAS 39 NG (IIRC) are the only Gripen variants that has/have IRST
@@smogdanoff7053 He meant the IRIS-T
@@ja37d-34 I was saying about the InfraRed Search And Track, but thank you, I didn't knew about this rb98s 🫡
@@smogdanoff7053 this versions will come to the game?
The best plane on the game
They changed it right after you p[osted this and increased its wing break limit
If memory serves there was a dogfight competition a few years back where a Eurofighter or Gripen (can't remember which) beat an F22 in a dogfight. Not a realistic situation but beating a 5th Gen in a 4th Gen at anything is impressive!
It was a Eurofighter, but to be fair the F22 had external weapons and fuel tank. They could actually add thrust vectoring nozzles to the Eurofighter, which would be insane, but probably not worth the weight and maintenance since modern warfare is all about the BVR.
The Rafale has beat the F-22 in mock dogfighting as well, I've seen the cockpit video.
(You can hear the Rafale pilot grunting trying to maintain the insane max-g maneuvers)
@@TimsVariety Oh interesting. How do the Gripers fare against the Eurofighter and Rafale then? Or is that not known?
@@MrEsphoenix I'm not aware of any published results (though I'm sure there are some), but I strongly suspect the Gripen is highly competitive against both.
@@TimsVariety Would be interesting to see. I think thrust is where it would struggle if it can't get a quick win, as they both have a much better TWR and the same unstable design, but they are heavier.
Hey Tim, not sure if your gonna see this, but I am thinking about buying the MiG-21 Lazur M and I was wondering if I could have your thoughts about it.
It'll get a dedicated review at some point.
Sadly, grinding for it is extremely painful. Viggen is terrible to fly these days :(
what about the c version
@@ferrous3262 I couldn’t care less about UK air tree, sorry. Just me not having time to grind that entire tech tree…
@@MrTheWaterbear I meant the first viggen jas37c
@@ferrous3262 Oh. It’s ok, I mean, it’s what I use, but it still does not research that effectively :(
I had the most “luck” with the finish mig-21bis
hope the philippines will buy one of these in the future.
Every time i play toptier qnd face this it feels like me163 with 600 something flares and aim9m i genuinely hate it
Yes ik im copeing
The canards make this plane the most OP broken top tier until we get later stuff like SU30
It’s a shame they don’t model rcs very well (currently it’s big plane big return, little plane little return) cause it should have a significantly smaller rcs than anything other that actual stealth aircraft. And in game that would make it a bvr contender even with the skyflash
not using periodic flares is such a waste
Kinda sucks Gaijin just Copy pasted Gripen A cockpit to Gripen C. Gripen's C cockpit looks much better than A and hell, i don't think South africans speaks swedish
This plane is dogshit now
No
Fyi the canards should be able to be pointed downward 90 degrees downwards to slow down faster but idk exactly how well that works out in WT
Boring!only high tier garbage, no new and interesting fame modes. No thanks
The reason it was small was to keep the cost down. That´s it. the Viggen had absolutely NO problems at all to meet the same requirements for the way Sweden operated on dispersed runways.
It entered service in 1996 , not -93.
The export success came after quite some time and alot of opportunities were missed. Not due to the aircraft being bad but it is always more politics than actual raw data..
it should also be able to carry three fuel tanks but i guess that is over the top for Twat Thunder so..
Also, the Gripen never really carried RB 71. it was RB 99s and still is, along with RB 101 and even newer versions of the AMRAAM purchased in november this year.
Its a whole side-story I didn't go into for time reasons, but the diplomatic cables leak a few years ago revealed the HUGE lobbying effort by the United States to sabotage Gripen sales internationally.