The JAS 39 Gripen, fitted with Meteor missiles, has a 'severed wing' design.

GD&TĐ - Experts dashed Ukraine's dream of Gripen aircraft carrying Meteor missiles controlling Russian airspace with the statement: "The wings have been truncated."

Immediately after news spread that Ukraine would receive 16 JAS 39 C/D Gripen fighter jets equipped with Meteor air-to-air missiles, widespread and optimistic discussions began about the Ukrainian Air Force being able to "shoot down Russian aircraft at a range of up to 200km right over Russian airspace."

However, the Ukrainian military- specialized newspaper Defense Express quickly published an article to dispel these illusions.

According to the Ukrainian newspaper, any unfounded speculation and hasty conclusions based on the technical specifications on paper of the new fighter jets delivered to the Ukrainian authorities should be strictly limited, and expectations should be kept low.

Excitement in Ukraine reached a peak when several media outlets and military experts claimed that Gripen aircraft were capable of shooting down Russian planes as soon as they took off from the Gvardeyskaya air base in Crimea, while they remained safely airborne over the Kherson region.

Others fantasize that Ukrainian Gripen aircraft, equipped with MBDA Meteor missiles, could attack Russian aircraft over the Kursk region without leaving the Kharkiv region.

However, the harsh reality and the sober analyses of several neutral experts regarding the capabilities of the Swedish fighter jet and its unique Meteor missile have completely dispelled these illusions.

Actual technical specifications of the MBDA Meteor missile

Firstly, all Ukrainian propaganda outlets cite the purely promotional figure of 200km as the "kill zone" for any fighter jet, a figure that optimists believe "covers most of the Russian airspace."

However, ultimately, this is precisely the most frequently cited figure for the "kill range" of the Meteor missile, as seen in promotional materials for the Swedish Gripen aircraft.

This parameter is used so frequently that it has become a "standard" in the press, but the missile manufacturer, MBDA Corporation, has not officially released its "effective range".

According to Defense Express, the missile's characteristics are currently described as follows: It guarantees target destruction at a range of no more than 60km, while at distances exceeding 100km, the missile's effectiveness decreases significantly, thus reducing its combat capability to zero.

This secrecy is often explained by the fact that these are guaranteed minimum values ​​and the intention to keep the actual parameters secret, while trying to increase the selling price through extensive advertising.

In other words, the range of an air-to-air missile to destroy an airborne target depends on the speed, altitude, and direction of flight of both aircraft, as well as the movement of the target after the missile is launched, all of which are dynamic and unstable parameters.

This means that maximum range is only achieved at optimal altitude, along the impact path, and with a nearly stationary (or minimally moving) target.

Thus, the MBDA Meteor's guaranteed range is only 65km against any target, regardless of its movement, and "any circle drawn with a radius of 200km indicating control of Russian airspace" is a falsification and should be quickly forgotten.

According to Topcor.ru

Source: https://giaoducthoidai.vn/jas-39-gripen-lap-ten-lua-meteor-nhu-canh-bi-cat-cut-post779927.html