Have Red Flag results comparing Gripen and F-35 ever been declassified or publicly released?
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Executive summary
There is no public, declassified Red Flag report that directly compares the Saab Gripen and the F‑35 in the materials supplied; widely circulated claims about Gripen “kills” at Red Flag and leaked scoring charts comparing the Gripen and F‑35 stem from anecdote, vendor commentary, or leaked national procurement documents rather than an officially released, declassified U.S. Red Flag comparative results package [1] [2] [3]. Reporting and forum posts cite strong Gripen performances in past Red Flag iterations and a leaked Canadian scoring chart favoring the F‑35, but none of the provided sources show an authoritative, declassified Red Flag document that pits Gripen head‑to‑head with the F‑35 and has been formally released [4] [5] [6].
1. What people mean when they ask about “Red Flag results” and why that matters
“Red Flag” is a large, multi‑party air combat exercise whose sortie debriefs and adjudications are typically controlled by the exercise hosts and participants, so any direct, formal comparison between two specific airframes—especially an advanced stealth type like the F‑35 and an export/partner type like the Gripen—would either be an internal after‑action product or a national procurement analysis, not an automatically public declassification [2] [4]. The available source set shows anecdotal after‑action claims and vendor narratives about performance, not a declassified U.S. Red Flag release comparing the two fighters [1] [2].
2. The evidence that’s often cited — and its limits
Multiple popular accounts and a long‑running anecdote claim Swedish Gripens registered many simulated “kills” against other Western types at exercises such as Red Flag 2006; these are reported through a former Swedish flight engineer’s recollections and vendor pages highlighting Gripen performance, but they are presented as recollection or marketing narrative rather than released, declassified exercise scoring logs [1] [7] [2]. Separately, national selection processes have produced leaked or newly obtained scoring charts—most notably a leaked Canadian assessment showing the F‑35 scoring far higher than the Gripen in that competition—but those are procurement evaluations, not declassified U.S. Red Flag results [3] [5] [6].
3. Claims about F‑35 vs Gripen dogfights: anecdote, forum skepticism, and PR incentives
Online forums and articles amplify vivid claims—such as a single Gripen pilot “knocking down” multiple F‑16s at Red Flag—but forum participants and independent commentators warn these stories lack corroborating, official documentation and sometimes originate with enthusiastic individuals or PR materials [4] [8]. Saab and pro‑Gripen outlets promote exercise successes to support sales, while F‑35 proponents point to leaked procurement charts and technical scoring to argue decisive advantage; both camps have incentives to spin exercise anecdotes in ways that favor their platform [2] [5].
4. What the provided sources actually show about declassification or public release
Among the supplied sources there are no authenticated, declassified U.S. Red Flag adjudication reports that directly compare Gripen and F‑35 results and have been publicly released; instead the materials include anecdotal accounts of Gripen success at Red Flag 2006 (via a former Swedish flight engineer and Saab material) and reporting on leaked or obtained procurement scoring that favors the F‑35 in national contests [1] [2] [3] [5] [6]. One forum post explicitly notes that classified tests have been leaked in other contexts and that information about Gripen’s alleged Red Flag victories is thinner and less documented [4].
5. Bottom line and limits of this analysis
Based on the supplied reporting, no verifiable, declassified Red Flag report publicly contrasts Gripen and F‑35 performance; existing narratives derive from participant recollections, vendor promotion, forum discussion, and leaked national procurement documents—each valuable but none a formal declassified Red Flag comparative release [1] [2] [3] [4]. If an official, declassified Red Flag comparison exists, it is not present in the provided sources, and this analysis cannot assert its existence beyond the cited anecdote and leaked procurement material [6] [5].