Two Thumbs Up in A Gripen!

That’s me in the back seat with two thumbs up! This was 5,000 feet above Sweden’s Baltic coast. Snapped from a camera-crew in a chase aircraft, a Saab 105 trainer. We tangoed for the filming for about 15 minutes, than broke off for open ocean for real stuff. Post and more photos on Saturday morning. Travelling back to India tomorrow.

Photo for Headlines Today by Stefan Kalm

16 thoughts on “Two Thumbs Up in A Gripen!”

  1. Sweden is really supportive , if Gripen selected or not in MMRCA deal, at least we can place a order of 40 nos .

    Its a 4++ gen with option to select the weapons type in (mmrca)/ another advantage is , it can takeoff in normal road itself.
    We wish Indian Army should have separate Aircraft division for fighter jets sqn's for quick reaction & additional supportive for ground based troops .

  2. It is all good that Sweeden is ready to transfer the technology and can provide good cooperation. Here comes the U.S. Many of these tech belongs to them and hence there is no reason to believe that things will go smoothly if Gripen is selected. It's going to be a dead end like the LCA cooperation with the U.S

  3. As a lot of discussions on BR, KeyPub point out, the (M)MRCA decision weighs heavily with India's foreign policy weather vane and the direction it chooses to turn for the next decade or two.
    Gripen may be the cheapest option available [but isnt the Erieye available to the Pakis?] but it gets us very few brownie points in the International scene.
    Gripen cannot be faulted for no trying. Don't they already have possible customers lined up in Brazil, Indo-China, Europe and now India? Can they keep up a demanding delivery schedule of the MRCA? At the end of it, seems to me that SAAB is going to end up with the short end of the stick for purely political reasons. Pity, the Gripen's not a bad aircraft by most accounts, and not pricey either.

  4. Beautiful, really !!!! and…..i mean the Gripen….not your 'two-thumbs up' !! Must have felt awesome !! Good for you !! just hope the gripen gets a Thumbs up too !! (and not the 'finger' !!)

  5. Shiv.. your blog comment seems to be full of people flogging their own little planes…you look good, the scenery looks amazing, hope you had a thrilling ride which is why we love flying fighters…

  6. Shiv,
    While you are away GOI has announced a major policy change in Afghanistan. I smell a rat in this Chankian move to support negotiations with Nationalist afghans (Read Good Taliban).
    Why are we so happy that we are ready to help Americans in their Exit Afghanistan strategy? It helps us to see them stuck in Afghanistan.
    Please sniff and write on it.

    Warm regards

    Chandrabhan

  7. I envy you Shiv!

    Nice plane too, but there's no way those hillbillies are going to win our contract. If I remember correct, back in the 80s we'd tried out their Viggen too… didn't work out either. Did anyone out there at SAAB mention that episode?

    Anyway, here's a thumbs up to them for trying and for being so sportive.

  8. Lucky U man. jealous of you. Is SAAB trying to influence the blogging community and the TV viewing community by giving you this opportunity. I wish Sweden had more internaitonal clout, then GOI would have definitely picked the Gripen. It is a good a/c for the price and can be mated with weapons of any origin.

  9. I've said it before and I'll say it again: The Girpen-NG MKI is our best choice for MRCA, even more so since IAF is requesting 50 more Su 30 MKIs for China theater.

    The only issue is the US engine, but if our corrupt babus have any common sense they will stock up on consumable spares before ordering the plane itself.

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