The SAAF Forum

Well, the day we've been waiting a long time for has finally arrived, in pretty spectacular style.

So, without further ado, I present the SAAF's first Gripen, along with some excellent images from the unveiling event.

I dunno about the rest of you, but I had assumed we'd be using the standard SwAF two-tone colour scheme, I had no idea they'd adapt the Cheetah's two-tone c/s. Personally, I think it looks awesome, and I'm willing to bet it even has a false canopy painted on the underside (I've always loved that).

I can't wait till I get to see this one for real.

Hi Darren

Thanks for that! I share your excitement! Would love to see them for real as you say, and gees, can't imagen flying them!!!

Maybe I'm stupid, but why the false canopy underneeth? Was that implemented on other SAAF fighters?

I can't stop looking at those photos!

Have a great day!

It's not a hugely amazing thing, but it can give you an advantage in a dogfight, as your adversary might not be able to see whether you were about to turn into him or away from him, and therefore he could hesitate for a vital half-second or two.

We've had it since the later years of the Mirage F1CZs, and it's been implemented on the Cheetah C (not sure about the Ds), as well as on the Spanish Air Force's upgraded F1s.

Here's a pic from Mirage4fs.com that illustrates the effect:

The earliest examples of false canopies painted underside that I have heard of are on the Royal Canadian air force, and I have seen photographs of it implemented on the CF-18s. Darren gave a good explanation of why.