Originally Posted by
Foghorn Leghorn
Gripen is the answer, but it’s up to BD of any company to sort out the fiscal constraints. Sweden have a bunch of older Gripens sat around they can’t shift. Lease these, offer at a competitive rate/no profit, get the various Air Forces/Navys hooked and then start to create revenue. I get that it boils down to what the MoD are willing to pay, but unless a company reaches out and grabs the nettle and does something radical with a decent fast jet then we (the UK) will always be stuck with a bit of crap 90s solution to a 2020s+ problem.
Pretty big ask for a private company, especially given UK MoD's reticence to pay big bucks for it (ASDOT collapsed recently, largely on cost grounds). You might be able to get agreement in principle before signing a contract with MoD and making the rest happen, but there's no way something that cost would get through unsolicited and uncompeted.
Plenty of credible partners queued up for ASDOT, so we just need to repeat that with a realistic budget and realistic requirements