The $5,000 Jet That Destroyed China’s Air Force in 4 Days

During a joint military exercise in November 2015, Chinese pilots flying Russian-made Su-27 fighter jets encountered something unexpected in the skies. It was a strange, lightweight aircraft with an unusual wing design, unlike anything they had ever faced in combat.

Over just four days, this mysterious jet dominated the exercise. It racked up an astonishing 41 simulated kills while suffering only 9 losses. But this wasn’t the work of America’s cutting-edge F-35 or some top-secret Pentagon superweapon. The aircraft came from a country that hadn’t fought a war in over 200 years.

Lethal Neutrality

As the Cold War escalated, Sweden’s strict neutrality shifted toward a cautious alignment with the West. Swedish military strategists calculated that their territory would become a prime strategic target in a full-scale conflict. Thus, it had no choice but to create an air force that was capable of surviving and fighting back even after losing its main airfields. It devised the B-60 program, an innovative air base system centered on dispersal, deception, and survivability. They aimed to keep an aircraft flying after an initial strike, decreasing the risk of total operational collapse.

Planes could quickly deploy to smaller, improvised, road runways, refuel, rearm, and return to combat, all without relying on a single vulnerable hub. Years later, the Bas 90 was formed, a new generation of air base doctrine designed for the 1990s and beyond.

New Generation Fighter

This evolution needed a new jet fighter built especially to take STOL capabilities to the next level. The Draken served as a foundation for a modern 4.5 generation STOL fighter aircraft designed to carry Sweden to the next century- the Saab Jas 39 Gripen. The Gripen was Sweden’s leap into the era of 4.5-generation airpower. In June 1993, it became the first production aircraft delivered to the Swedish Air Force. The Gripen dispensed with heavy thrust reversers like those on the Viggen and opted for aerodynamic solutions.

The aircraft was designed to be serviced by a team of six. The onboard auxiliary power unit allows full system activation without external power. Engine starts, navigation alignment and avionics checks can all be completed with the aircraft sitting silently in a forest clearing. Refueling can be done with the engine running, decreasing time on the ground to mere minutes. The cumulative effect is an aircraft that can vanish into Sweden’s topography and reappear whenever needed, an elusive predator in an age of sprawling, vulnerable infrastructure. It’s a warplane that refuses to be cornered.

Better Than the F-35?

Entering Swedish service in 1996, Gripen became the backbone of the Swedish Air Force, providing versatility across air-to-air, air-to-ground, and reconnaissance missions. Its hallmark was agility, enabled by its delta canard configuration and advanced fly-by-wire system, a radical leap in control for its time.

The Gripen E model was a major turning point. It’s equipped with new radar, a powerful General Electric F414 engine, a longer range, and expanded weapons capacity. Its operational cost was also under $5,000, which is incredibly low for a 4.5-generation multi-role fighter. In comparison, an F-35 can cost $35,000 or more per hour to fly. As of the mid-2020s, the Gripen remains a key pillar of Swedish defense strategy. Although it may never match the global reach of an F-16, in terms of affordability, performance, and independence, it creates a niche that few other fighters can match.