I’m NOT a defense analyst, professional or amateur.
Me neither, not by a long shot. From the various analyses I've consumed over the last few months, the suggestion is that the F35 is superior if you're attacking another country, but the Gripens just might have the edge defensively.
Our airstrips, maintenance facilities, fuel depots, all of it would be targeted and destroyed first.
This arguably gives the Gripen an edge, since its most famous feature is that it can be deployed relatively easily from highways and other non-standard surfaces.
But yeah, if you set aside the issue of American relations, there are some pretty big questions of doctrine to sort out.
As much as I love the Arrow, I think there's a case for the cancellation - the tide was starting to turn against dedicated interceptors, as the article notes.
But there's no excuse at all for the absolute gutting of the domestic industry that followed.