Sweden eyes additional batch of Gripen E jets to replace Ukraine-bound aircraft

FARNBOROUGH — Sweden is lining up a new order of Gripen E fighter jets to replace a fleet of older C/D models being gifted to Ukraine, according to the head of the Swedish air force.

A new “investment” in 12 of the Saab-produced multirole combat aircraft will be added to the country’s “procurement cycle” at a later date, to compensate for the Kyiv-bound planes, according to Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman, Chief of the Swedish air force.

Sweden’s future Gripen E buy will take the Nordic nation’s fleet to 72 aircraft, bolstering an original order of 60 units placed in 2013.

Ukraine is slated to receive its first Gripen C/D aircraft next year, in addition to its $2.5 billion acquisition of 16 Gripen E fighter jets, signed with Saab earlier this month. More broadly, Ukraine holds an ambition of acquiring up to 150 of the Swedish jets long term.

“We are naturally looking forward to be a provider of continued support to Ukraine,” Wikman explained.

The Gripen program is “a big step forward, not only for Ukraine, but also for the defense of Sweden, defense of Europe…..Our ambition to support Ukraine is high,” he added. “Their ambition to introduce the Gripen is also high.”

Kyiv has long called on Western partners to donate fighter jets in a bid to boost air power and counter Russian attacks. The future Gripen fleet will compliment US produced F-16 fourth generation planes and French Mirage platforms already in service. Paris and Kyiv also signed an agreement last year for up to 100 Rafale fighter jets, manufactured by Dassault. 

Military analysts have been particularly vocal in making the case for Gripen fighter jets to be sent to Ukraine. A report in November 2022 from the UK’s Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) defense and security think tank deemed the aircraft “by far the most suitable candidate” of Western-manufactured combat jets, capable of meeting operational requirements.

The same document also highlighted that the supply of the jets would minimize the risk of Ukraine being subjected to long-range missile strikes by Russia, while noting that the Swedish Air Force’s employment of “low level air superiority tactics from dispersed bases” are similar to Ukrainian Air Force operations.

Wikman said that under Sweden’s Defense Material Adminstration (FMV), more than “a handful” of the advanced Gripen E fighters have been flown, ahead of a first aircraft formally being introduced to service with the Swedish air force.

The build up to entry to service is a “huge step forward for us, and it’s going very successfully,” Wikman noted. “It took us only a few months [to introduce] a new capability.”

From a production perspective, we are “aiming for somewhere between 25 and 30 [Gripen aircraft] across a year,” Saab CEO Micael Johansson told investors last week as part of a company half-year results call. “That’s sort of doubling almost the capacity that…we are right now.”