The Saab JAS 39 Gripen 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.
source.image: Found And Explained
The Gripen is a multirole fighter aircraft, intended as a light-weight and agile aerial platform with advanced, highly adaptable avionics. It has canard control surfaces that contribute a positive lift force at all speeds, while the generous lift from the delta wing compensates for the rear stabiliser producing negative lift at high speeds, increasing induced drag.
The Gripen also has good short takeoff performance, being able to maintain a high sink rate and strengthened to withstand the stresses of short landings. The aircraft is fitted with retractable tricycle landing gear, with a double-wheeled nose gear and single main wheels. A pair of air brakes are located on the sides of the rear fuselage; the canards also angle downward to act as air brakes and decrease landing distance. It is capable of flying at a 70–80 degrees angle of attack.
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All in-service Gripens as of January 2014 are powered by a Volvo RM12 turbofan engine, a licence-manufactured derivative of General Electric F404, fed by a Y-duct with splitter plates; changes include increased performance and improved reliability to meet single engine use safety criteria, as well as a greater resistance to bird strike incidents.
