Brazil signs letter of intent for additional Saab Gripens

Brazil's first Gripen E during flight-testing. The country may add nine Gripens to its current order for 36. (Saab)

Brazil is likely to purchase nine additional Saab JAS 39 E/F Gripens, according to a 9 November statement by the Swedish Ministry of Defence (MoD), adding to its 2014 order for 36 of the multirole fighters.

Brazilian Minister of Defence José Múcio and Swedish Minister of Defence Pål Jonson signed a letter of intent to “expand their co-operation in the aerospace area” on 9 November in Natal, Brazil, simultaneously laying out Brazil's intent to purchase more Gripens and Sweden's intent to purchase an undisclosed number of Embraer C-390 Millennium tanker/transport aircraft. Sweden selected the Brazilian-built C-390 to replace its fleet of six Lockheed Martin C-130Hs.

“Brazil has now stated that it plans to increase the current contract for JAS 39 Gripen aircraft by 25%,” the Swedish statement said. The final 15 Gripens are to be assembled by Embraer in Gavião Peixoto.

“We welcome the news, which is positive for Saab and Sweden. We know that Brazil is very pleased with Gripen as a fighter and we look forward to continuing our discussions with Brazil regarding future orders,” Saab told Janes on 12 November. “However, it is important to emphasise that no new contract has been signed yet, and we will not speculate about the content of a potential future contract.”

Eight Gripens from the 2014 order have arrived in Brazil to date, with the first declared operational in December 2022. The Gripens are operated by the 1º Grupo de Defesa Aérea at Anápolis Air Base, near Brasília, which until 2013 operated Dassault Mirage 2000s. Janes