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Yes, you read it right. Saab has gone and made a new Fighter Jet to compete on the modern stage!
After cruising the [url=www.bbc.co.uk][u]BBC Website[/u][/url], I found an interesting article on Saab and the manufacture of their new fighter jet.

Saab is a brand commonly associated with a struggling carmaker, though this is not the same one. The fast-growing aerospace and defence group that shares the Saab name is not only quicker, but it is also much more successful and important, both for Sweden and for the company itself.
Sweden has realised that targeted investment in hi-tech sectors, such as the military aircraft industry, can be hugely beneficial for the nation as a whole. So investment in this sector alone has increased dramatically.

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Saab's gain is a commercial product that is marketable across the world, according to Lennart Sindahl, head of Saab Aeronautics, the largest of the group's five divisions.

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen has so far been bought not only by Sweden, but also by the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa and Thailand, as well as by the UK which is using it as its advanced fast jet platform for test pilots worldwide.

Saab is convinced it can extend its list of customer countries considerably over the next decade or so, as some 5,000 of the 13,000 fighter jets currently in operation are scheduled for retirement.

A critical period...
Saab is convinced its lightweight single-engine multirole fighter aircraft is both as capable as and much cheaper to buy and operate than larger, twin-engined jets such as the Eurofighter Typhoon, Dassault's Rafale and Boeing's Super Hornet - not to mention Lockheed Martin's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which has suffered from cost overruns running into billions of dollars.

The next few months will be critical as the potential Gripen customers make up their minds. Saab knows that it probably will not win all the contracts, but winning just some of them will bring in billions of dollars for the firm.

My Opinion:
Personally, i've never been a fan of Saab's so I don't know how legit their fighter jets would be.
I'd stick with the motto, "why fix something that isn't broken" if I were the man in charge of ordering in new fighter jets on behalf of my country. lol
Will countries that are fighting wars be willing to take a risk on a new aircraft from a car manufacturer, despite them having designed jets before?! I'm not so sure.

Leave your opinions on how you think this new, cheaper fighter jet will fare.

If it has the best of both worlds, I don't see why it won't be popular.

Well, if my memory is correct then saab have made quite a few jets in their time, however they do date back since to 1944 :\

And although they haven't made a new jet for 10 odd years I think they had some input into the Eurofighter typhoon which means they can't be too shabby. Never know, it might turn into the new F16 or F15, but probably wont :p

So they're making a better version of the JAS 39 Gripen? I didn't think it was that flawed. :p

Well Saab made jets before cars, and they have made quiet a lot of planes, so it should be fine. As long as it incorporates all the new technology then it should be fine. But hey, it's only Sweden that use them, as far as I know. Sweden seem a chill country, so I can't see them needed this to defend themselves.

Cheers for the comments guys.

I read a little more on this last night which confirm the points you've all made. I was also looking in to other aeroplanes designed for modern warfare, and there are some mental ones out there.

This for instance is the Boeing C 17 Globemaster iii -
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It's specs are amazing, check them out - You must login or register to view this content.

If you guys have any pics of planes you wana share, or talk about the specs of a plane then just post it in here

Saab JAS 39 Gripen

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It looks like a good jet in them photo's, I'd buy it if I was able to.

Yeh, it's a single jet engine too, which means it's lighter and faster.

I'd like to see a video of one to see what they're capable of doing whilst in the air.

Saab probably make the worst cars known to man. Now they're making jets.:\

Lots of money in making things for the military.