Finland HX Challenge |F18 Super Hornet | Gripen | Rafale | Eurofighter| F35

Finland's HX Challenge between the F18 Super Hornet, Gripen, Rafale, Eurofighter, and F35:

Realizing that the legacy F/A-18 Hornets, the Finnish Air Force or FAF have been operating since 1995 were becoming outdated and nearing the end of their service life, the Ministry of Defense in 2015 initiated a replacement program known as the HX challenge. The goal of the HX challenge is an ambitious one: procure new multi role fighters while maintaining the FAF's current numerical strength of 64, and do this with an allocated price cap of 10 billion Euros. These new fighters must be able to endure low temperatures along with harsh weather conditions common to Finland while still performing a diverse range of missions including air superiority, air to ground, anti ship, reconnaissance, and the ability to conduct deep strikes to deter potential foreign attacks. Upon choosing a new fighter the legacy hornets would be phased out between 2025 and 2030, with the new fighter being expected to serve into the 2060s.

Geographically a neighbor of Russia and Sweden, Finland is officially neutral, but has been increasingly working closely with NATO, most recently participating in the 2018 Trident Juncture exercise. Trident Juncture was a huge combined arms exercise featuring air, sea, and land assets that simulated a NATO defense of Norway from an amphibious invasion. During Trident Juncture NATO aircraft operated out of Finnish airbases and FAF Hornets flew sorties as well. This as one can imagine did not exactly sit well with the Russians, and as a result the HX competition only includes NATO fighters, despite Finland's previous use of Russian made aircraft such as the MiG-21.
The five participants in the HX challenge are: Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, Saab's JAS 39 Gripen, Dassault's Rafale, The Eurofighter Typhoon, and Lockheed's F35 Lightning II
Credits/Attributions:
"The appearance of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) visual information does not imply or constitute DoD endorsement."

The NATO Channel

Boeing concept art courtesy of Boeing:
https://boeing.com

F22 Raptor footage courteously of Lockheed Martin:
https://lockheed.com

Saab AJS 37 Viggen Photo:
Alan Wilson / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Saab 35 Draken Photo:
Katsuhiko Tokunaga / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

Mauser BK27 Cannon photo:
Petr Kadlec / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Gripen Highway takeoff
By San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive - https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4564454831/, No restrictions, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76036531

Gipen with smoke trials:
Dave_S. from Witney, England / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Griffon Tail picture:
Ronnie Macdonald from Chelmsford, United Kingdom / CC BY (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)

Gripen Selfie Pilot Photo:
© Milan Nykodym, Czech Republic / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Gripen four ship formation:
Grzegorz Jereczek from Gdańsk, Poland / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)

Saab GlobalEye photo:
https://www.saab.com/

Snecma M88 Engine Photo:
https://www.safran-group.com/image/9695

GIAT 30 Photo:
David Monniaux / CC BY-SA (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)

RBE2-AA radar
Tiraden / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

SDuct intakes photo:
Anand t83 / CC BY-SA (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

Eurofighter Helmet Photo:
Photo: SAC Richard Dudley/MOD / OGL v1.0 (http://NationalArchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/)

Eurofighter Cockpit photo:
Photo: Sgt Pete Mobbs/MOD / OGL v1.0 (http://NationalArchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/1/)

Music from https://filmmusic.io "Hiding Your Reality" by Kevin MacLeod (https://incompetech.com) License: CC BY (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

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