The Saab 37 Viggen was an extremely capable, and lavishly well-equipped, fighter-bomber. It was also a very expensive project to remain purely in the domestic market, export customers were wanted to spread the financial burden. Its failure to achieve export success was largely down to its Swedish origin, a country with an inconvenient regard for ethics when exporting military hardware. It was not just the good principles of the Swedish government that got in its way: it was also a mite too specialised towards Swedish needs. The Viggen did in fact achieve an export order, from India in 1978. But the US didn’t like it, and refused an export licence for the licence-built Volvo RM8 engines (which were modified afterburning versions of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D). The US were worried by the potential for the Swedes to include secret US technology in the export version, despite Saab’s claim to the contrary. In a telegram about the matter, Kissinger noted:
“RECENT SWEDISH TRANSFER OF US-ORIGIN LASER RANGEFINDER EQUIPMENT TO YUGOSLAVIA, WHICH LATER REPORTEDLY TURNED UP IN EGYPT, RAISES QUESTION AS TO SWEDISH ABILITY TO CONTROL THIRD-COUNTRY TRANSFER OF US TECHNOLOGY.” The US scuppered the deal, and the Indians chose the Jaguar instead...Има ли неко ближу информацију шта је то што је претходило индијској поруџбини 1978. а у шта је била умешана Југославија?
