Or even better Saab Draken sales!!
M.A.D
Fearing the wrath of the moderator, let me put simply, there was no way the Draken would either be sold or bought from the Swedes in light of their rather strict policies about potential purchasers and the sorts of government they might have and where these aircraft might be used. The Australian experience over the 84mm Carl Gustav Rcl and the Vietnam War was not a good one and I have no reason to doubt the Swedes would have been as difficult over the supply of spare parts to any nation that bought their aircraft at that point in history and then found themselves involved in a conflict the Swedes did not approve of.
It was one of the major reasons why the Viggen was never a real contender for the Mirage replacement downunder. Memories were long and the hurt hadn't faded.
The only countries I could see Drakens being sold to, where they weren't, is Norway or Switzerland.
All true, but in a whiff world, you could "right the wrong" by giving Sweden a more accomodating and consistent export policy.
I wonder if that's another factor why India chose the Jaguar over the Viggen? (Not that I'm complaining....)
Sweden was clearly able to export to some NATO countries, given the Draken sale to Denmark, so it's not too much of a stretch to see them exported on a similar basis to Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands or Germany. Germany's internal and external restrictions at the time would have made it very unlikely they could have got into an "immoral" war of any sort.
Another historic limitation on SAAB exports has been production capacity and delivery dates. SAAB's factory is small and the Flygvapnet have been generally unwilling to give up early production slots for export orders (unlike, for example, the situation in France). This has resulted in the factory being "maxed out" by domestic demand for extended periods of time, during which potential export customers couldn't get competetive delivery dates. The Danish Draken order went through the factory after the bulk of domestic orders had been satisfied and before Viggen production started. For the kind of numbers Germany would have needed, licence production would have been a must.
Completely different tack: how about the Lightning as a Starfighter substitute for the Luftwaffe? After all, they wanted the Sr.177 and the Lightning was the nearest thing to it that ever actually got built. It'd be ideally suited to their interceptor requirement and with an order of that size, ther'd be little trouble funding customer-specific mods.
I've always though that many British aircraft of the period (Hunter, Lightning, Buccaneer and Harrier) were in many ways better suited to German requirements than British ones....