Sweden has had a huge amount of experience in shallow water (Baltic obviously) submarine operations during the cold war.
They agressively protected their neutrality and had numerous encounters with Soviet submarines...
Their home grown Arms industry has a tremendous reputation for innovation - look at the Viggen, the S-Tank etc.
The Grippen was the first new-generation fighter to come into service - long before Eurofighter & F22 and before even the Rafale - whilst more limited in some of its capabilities than thos planes- that is because of Swedens specific defence needs rather than their ability to produce advanced equipment.
Thats not forgetting that at one stage Britains late model Trafalger Class submarines were considered to have a quieter propulsion system than their (at the time) contemparies - the late 668 class
Whilst I wouldn't argue that across the board US systems are the most advanced in the world - its not a wise assumption to consider European products...automatically inferior...
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