All of your airplanes are from 1983-1984.
And no, they are not even close in terms of BVR, EW and your planes essentially lack any kind of modern networking (sans the most basic link16 at best.)
I'm not sure what "totally" refurbishing means when compared to refurbishing but it's the same circa 40 years old airframe, with all the hours flown.
Well, if there's money to fly and for fuel, that is.
I also think that's worse than the hours our Gripen flew in the past, back when we completely neglected the army...?
The only lower annoual number I know today is the Austrians but they pretty much gave up on their air force.
Err, no, not really. Your radar is a truly outdated, old crap EOL'ed long time ago versus the Gripen's latest prev-gen (non-AESA), modern radar.
1.
It's a 1970s radar design. Primary air-combat mode is look-down, with a range of 50-60km. The difference between the couple of air-combat modes is the angle, nothing more as I recall. The v2 bumped the range to approx 85km.
2. The Gripen's radar was designed in the 90s, by default it had an approx 120km range. It had also better angles and modes right off the bat.
The update MS20 Mk3 added MBDA’s Meteor BVR air-to-air missile and SDB to the existing list of available weapons, as it is often mentioned, but it also added NATO's latest enhanced Link 16 for situational awareness, a new TIDLS link mode was added to enhance real-time FAC link capability during CAS missions, it expanded the functions of the pilot’s helmet-mounted sight, added support for a new infrared recon pod and introduced a new automater GCA system (ground collision avoidance) and also bumped the radar range at least over 150km (though some Saab communique dropped 150% range upgrade, solely due to the brand new sw algorithm, taking advantage of the new computer unit's much higher computational power.)
Pretty easily.
You have no radar to match, you have no AEW&C to help them out and you have almoat zero networking.
Unless you want to engage in dogfight you are dead in the water in BVR.
Oh wait, in dogfight we have the 27mm Mauser v your 20mm and far better turning rate... damn, that won't work either.
And that's with assuming you will get your pilots properly trained in the next 3-4 years... we shall see, right?
It's pretty telling that you think EF and Rafale are better than the Gripen.
Pal, no offense but your old planes are blind as a bat compared to the Gripen, EF or Rafale.
Seriously, you bought a Block 20, a model Europe is retiring already in droves because it has no chance against modern planes.
Had you bought at least a Block 50 you'd have a fighting chance - but your corrupt and/or incompetent politicians, as always, sold you out.
Gripens fly with TIDLS for decades now, their sophisticated, real-time peer-to-peer networked combat mode; previously Viggens had it and even Drakens had networked warfare.
Again, this is not a "will have" capability but an existing networked warfare system in daily use for 60 years.
They can target you BVR, launch and you won't even know a missile is on its way until it's too late, the missile will fly without turning on its radar until the very end (no-escape zone), guided by another or a third Gripen far away, outside of the launch range, while the silent, launching Gripen banks out and leaves, you won't even know he was there. And then comes the next from a different direction and so on.
Unlike broadcasts like the much slower Link 16 the native Gripen TDILS works as a high-speed ,real-time, always-on p2p network and well over 500km between fighters thus the only way to disrupt it if you put an enormous jammer and decrypt capacity between them, in the air.
Even then, since each of these "hubs" allow at least 4 actively transmitting (TX) planes and
infinite passive receivers (RX) it's practically impossible to disrupt it.
FYI this is just one of the many modes of using the Gripen's unique, p2p networked warfare system.
The entire philosophy and avionics automation is years ahead of the Block 20, pilots won't have to deal with a whole lot of things yours will have to continuously manage, during every mission.
Google it - TDILS - and be terrified.