Saab JAS 39 Gripen

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The Gripen entered Swedish service in 1996 and was designed around a doctrine rather than a specification. Sweden expected its airbases to be destroyed early in a war, so the aircraft had to operate from ordinary stretches of road, land in under six hundred metres, and be refuelled and rearmed in about ten minutes by a small conscript ground crew working out of a truck. The letters JAS stand for the three roles it covers: fighter, attack and reconnaissance. On MCS the Gripen is the light, cheap, extremely agile option. The canard delta gives it a sharp nose and the small airframe makes it hard to see, and it can put down and take off from places that would wreck a heavier jet. It carries less fuel and fewer weapons than a twin engine fighter. Recommended for players who value agility and improvised basing over payload.