Saab JAS 39 Gripen

what is it?

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (Swedish: [ˈɡrǐːpɛn] ; lit. 'Griffin') is a light single-engine supersonic multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stability design and fly-by-wire flight controls. Later aircraft are fully NATO interoperable. As of 2025, more than 280 Gripens of all models, A–F, have been delivered.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · delta wing · retractable tricycle gear · 8.4 m wingspan

base stats

• size 14 tmax take-off weight
• built 264made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 38 years ago, in 1988.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 2 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 1.7× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1988-12-09

introduced

1997

status

still flying

number built

264

role

multirole fighter

origin

🇸🇪 Sweden

makers

Saab Group

engines

1× Volvo RM12 / General Electric F404

crew

1

length

14.9 m

wingspan

8.4 m

height

4.5 m

max take-off weight

14 t

top speed

—

range

—

ceiling

15,240 m

wings

delta wing

landing gear

retractable tricycle gear

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.