From quiet, neutral Sweden, a warplane in search of a home

LINKOEPING, Sweden -- It's not an obvious place for a fighter jet factory: a sleepy town in a country at peace for almost 200 years that is better known for making safe cars (Volvos) and do-it-yourself furniture (Ikea).

Yet on the gleaming production floors of the Saab aircraft plant in Linkoeping, a two-hour train ride southwest of Stockholm, one of the world's most advanced combat planes is being assembled.

Three years after securing its first export sale, to South Africa, the sleek, single-engine JAS 39 Gripen now competes aggressively against the vaunted U.S.-made F-16.

NATO member Hungary recently picked the Gripen over the F-16, and a deal with the Czech Republic awaits parliamentary confirmation. Poland and Austria are expected to pick a fighter this year and the Swedish fighter is in the running.

The Gripen, which means griffin, the mythological monster, "is the newest aircraft available in the light to middleweight fighter category," says John Neilson, spokesman for Saab-BAE Systems, the Anglo-Swedish company that markets the plane. "Its operational capability is far greater than any of its competitors."

'It's close'

Patrolling above lonely Scandinavian forests and lakes, the Gripen has never fired a shot in anger. But some military experts rate its performance as roughly comparable to the combat-tested F-16, used in 23 air forces worldwide.

"It's close," said David North, editor in chief of Aviation Week & Space Technology and a former U.S. Navy pilot who has flown both planes.

The Gripen makes up for shorter range and lower top speed, he noted, with an advanced data-link system that allows pilots to relay images to each other and to ground controllers without switching on their own radar.

"They're very similar," agreed Paul Jackson, editor of Jane's All the World's Aircraft.

The Gripen's big obstacle is not agility or firepower, but rather Sweden's neutrality, he said. What if a buyer needs more planes or spare parts in a hurry?

"Is the Swedish government going to say, 'No, we won't supply you with material if you're in a war'? That's something anybody buying Swedish material has to think about," Jackson said.

Scrambled to sell

Previous fighters, including the Draken (dragon) and Viggen (thunderbolt), were made almost exclusively for the Swedish military. But when the Cold War ended, the air force cut a planned Gripen order of 300 planes to 204 and Saab scrambled to market its planes abroad.

With a price tag of about $35 million-$40 million, which defense experts say is slightly more than the F-16 but less than the French Mirage 2000, the Gripen is finding a niche as a lightweight, multirole fighter.

The continuously upgraded F-16 remains the main competitor, and more modern fighters are on the horizon: the French Rafale; the Eurofighter, made by a consortium of European companies; and the American Joint Strike Fighter.

"We're starting to realize that this is an offset-based competition rather than an aircraft competition," William Perkins, spokesman for F-16 maker Lockheed-Martin, said.

He said it's hard to beat the F-16, which proved itself in the 1991 Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

"Hungary selecting the Gripen has caused us some concern in central Europe," Perkins said. "Is it going to affect the rest of the world? I don't think so."