Allan:
Here are four of the overwhelming reasons to buy the Swedish Gripen that I have not heard addressed:
Extra cost for the F-35 hangers and storage.
The fact that the Gripen parts will be readily available if they are assembled in Canada!
The length of runway required would be much less! (the Gripen can take off on a dime)
And the biggest area of concern, namely the flying availability when required. For the F-35, it’s about 50 per cent of the time, and for the Gripen it’s over 80 per cent!
Not only that... but the 16 F35's we already bought could be used for NATO work in Europe... and the Gripen spread all over our far north... where they don't need all the expensive infrastructure that the Yankee planes would require!
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Sal-9000 said: Hello, Allan:
Yup, I remember that scenario—our “Big Canada” with Alaska as the rump and Greenland as the hat, and Gripens watching over the Northwest Passage. 😄
Let me very quickly restate the logic of that basing plan and tweak it a bit now that you’ve mentioned climate change making the Passage much more accessible:
1. Western Gate: Approaches from the Pacific
Goal: Control traffic coming in via the Bering Strait and into the Beaufort/Chukchi Seas.
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Primary base: Around Anchorage (ex-Elmendorf area)
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Covers: Bering Strait approaches, Gulf of Alaska, western Arctic routes.
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Big advantage: existing major air infrastructure, logistics, population, and road/port access.
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Secondary / forward strip: Around Fairbanks / Eielson region
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Acts as a high-latitude springboard for quick interception into the Arctic Basin.
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Role:
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Intercept unknown aircraft and long-range bombers.
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Patrol early legs of shipping coming from Asia trying to use Arctic shortcuts.
2. Central Arctic Shield: The True Northwest Passage
Goal: Provide overlapping coverage of the key choke points of the Northwest Passage itself.
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Base A: Inuvik region (Western Arctic, NWT)
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Protects: Western entrance of the Passage, Beaufort Sea, and access routes north of the MacKenzie Delta.
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Base B: Yellowknife or similar latitude site
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More “rear” support: logistics, training, maintenance hub for northern ops, plus reach into central Arctic.
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Base C: Iqaluit (Baffin Island)
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Covers: Eastern legs of the Passage, Davis Strait approaches, and shipping transiting between Atlantic and central Arctic.
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Role:
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Gripen road-base capability could allow dispersed operations on upgraded Arctic highways / austere runways.
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These three points create a triangular coverage so that any ship/aircraft moving along the Passage is never far from a rapid-response fighter.
3. Eastern Anchor & Atlantic–Arctic Link: Greenland
Goal: Tie the Arctic defence grid into the North Atlantic and the GIUK gap (Greenland–Iceland–UK).
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Primary base: Thule / Pituffik region (northern Greenland)
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Deep Arctic reach, radar and space-based integration.
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Secondary base: Kangerlussuaq or Nuuk area
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More temperate logistics node with strong Atlantic access and mid-Arctic reach.
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Role:
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Intercept traffic coming from the North Atlantic into the Arctic and vice versa.
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Backstop NATO-style GIUK-gap monitoring in your alt-history where “Canada+Greenland” is one polity.
4. How Many Gripens? (Rough Notional Layout)
If we imagine a modest but serious Arctic-oriented force:
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3–4 Arctic-focused fighter wings, roughly:
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Wing 1: Anchorage / Fairbanks
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Wing 2: Inuvik / Yellowknife hub
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Wing 3: Iqaluit
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Wing 4: Greenland (Thule + southern node)
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Each wing could have:
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~18–24 Gripens (one full squadron + reserve/OT&E)
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Some air-to-air focus (Arctic interdiction, long-range patrol)
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Some maritime-strike / reconnaissance capability to keep tabs on shipping trying to slip through resource zones.
Gripen’s strengths here:
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Designed for dispersed basing and road operations
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Lower operating costs than F-35, making it more realistic to maintain multiple Arctic bases rather than one or two “gold-plated” ones.
5. Climate Change Twist
As the Northwest Passage becomes navigable more often:
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You’d see more civilian shipping, some of it shady: flags of convenience, resource poachers, and “research vessels” doing… other things.
- The job of these bases isn’t just intercepting Russian bombers
- It’s also:
Sanity-checking who’s transiting the Passage.
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Backing up coast guard and navy patrols.
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Showing the flag over newly open waters and resource zones.
Here is the new map, exactly as requested — a clean, simple, horizontal illustration of Canada + Alaska + Greenland merged together, with Saab Gripen bases placed in the optimal Arctic-defense configuration.
Below is the custom version I generated, with your merged geography and my base placements.
(I’ve generated it as a neutral, clean-styled diagram so you can download or reuse it.)
✅ Custom Map: Canada + Alaska + Greenland + Optimal Gripen Bases
Base Locations Marked
I placed the bases exactly where the defence geometry is optimal:
1. Anchorage / Elmendorf (Western Arctic Gate)
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Controls Bering Strait
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Watching Pacific → Arctic approaches
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Primary rapid-scramble base
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First choke point of the Passage
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Ideal for road-basing Gripens
3. Yellowknife (Central Shield Hub)
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Maintenance + training hub
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Supports long-range patrols north into the Basin
4. Iqaluit (Eastern Gate of the Passage)
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Controls traffic entering/exiting from the Atlantic
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Overlaps with Greenland’s western sensors
5. Thule / Pituffik (High-Arctic Radar + Intercept)
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Deep-Arctic overwatch
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Ties into GIUK security geometry
6. Nuuk / Kangerlussuaq (Atlantic–Arctic Link)
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Maritime patrol support
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Atlantic side choke point
