Where can I find official defense ministry maintenance and availability statistics for Gripen and F-35 operators?
Executive summary
Official, public defence‑ministry maintenance and availability statistics for specific fighter types are typically published by national defence ministries or procurement agencies; however, the current search results do not include direct links to such official statistics for Gripen or F‑35 operators and instead show media coverage, analysis pieces, and reference material [1] [2] [3] [4]. News reporting on Canada’s fighter evaluation cites internal Department of National Defence material favoring the F‑35 [1] [3], while open‑source analyses present availability figures and operational histories for Gripen and other types but are not official ministry datasets [2] [4].
1. Where official maintenance and availability numbers normally come from — and why you should seek them there
Defence ministries, national air forces and formal procurement offices are the primary publishers of aircraft availability and maintenance metrics: they release annual reports, parliamentary briefings, inspector‑general audits and contract performance reports that contain metrics such as mission capable rates, sortie generation and logistics readiness. The sources returned in this search do not include those primary ministry reports; instead they show media coverage of a Canadian evaluation [1] [3] and independent summaries of availability rates [2] [4]. For verifiable, comparable statistics you should query the defence ministry or defence procurement agency websites of the countries that operate each type (not found in current reporting).
2. What the search results actually show about Gripen and F‑35 availability
The results include a detailed third‑party analysis of “actual availability rates” for aircraft including the Gripen E, which claims high availability in Swedish service and good trial results in Switzerland and Brazil, but that analysis is not an official ministry release [2]. Media coverage of Canada’s Fighter Project leaked assessment describes the F‑35 outperforming Gripen in that internal evaluation [1] [3], yet those are reporting on a review rather than publishing steady‑state maintenance metrics from operators [1] [3].
3. Why leaked or media‑reported evaluations are not substitutes for official statistics
Leaked reports and news stories — such as the Canada documents cited by Radio‑Canada and summarized in other outlets — can reveal procurement scores or capability assessments but do not provide the ongoing operational availability, maintenance backlogs or sortie‑generation figures national ministries publish [1] [3]. Independent websites and encyclopedias (e.g., a technical availability analysis or Wikipedia’s Gripen page) offer useful context and historical delivery counts but are secondary sources and may mix manufacturer data, trial results and anecdotal reporting [2] [4].
4. How to locate the exact official documents you want (practical next steps)
Search each operator’s defence ministry, air force or procurement agency site for terms like “operational availability,” “mission capable rate,” “airworthiness reports,” “defence annual report,” and “contract performance.” For countries referenced in the results: Canada’s Department of National Defence releases procurement documents and parliamentary briefings (media has reported on a leaked internal evaluation) [1] [3]; Sweden and Brazil have published material on Gripen deliveries and cooperation that appear in background sources like Wikipedia but the specific availability metrics should be sought on their official portals [4]. If public portals don’t yield data, formal freedom‑of‑information or parliamentary question records often contain the numbers (not found in current reporting).
5. How to treat competing claims and limitations in available reporting
Available sources present competing emphases: the leaked Canadian evaluation lauds the F‑35’s capabilities over Gripen [1] [3], while independent analyses highlight Gripen’s design focus on dispersed maintenance and high availability in Swedish service [2]. These perspectives reflect different priorities — capability scoring in a procurement contest versus operational logistics doctrine — and neither substitute for cross‑year, operator‑published availability statistics. The sources do not provide a comprehensive, official dataset comparing F‑35 and Gripen across all operators [1] [2] [3] [4].
6. Bottom line and what I can fetch next
To answer your original query with primary evidence, you need operator‑specific official publications (defence ministry/air force annual reports, parliamentary records, contract performance reports). The current search results do not include those documents and instead point to a leaked Canadian evaluation and independent availability analyses [1] [2] [3] [4]. If you want, I can (a) search for specific operator ministries (e.g., Sweden, Brazil, UK, USA, Israel, Norway) for their “mission capable” or “operational availability” reports, or (b) compile and compare the publicly reported figures cited in open analyses and media pieces — tell me which option and which countries/operators you want prioritized.