Seen in Swedish service, the Gripen is being earmarked for Ukraine, also with spares for 14 aircraft being transferred. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
Sweden has included spare parts for 14 Saab JAS 39 Gripen combat aircraft that it intends to transfer to Ukraine at a later date.
Swedish Minister of Defence Pål Jonson made the disclosure during a joint press conference with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov in Stockholm on 22 November.
“There were spares for up to 14 [Gripen] platforms in the last package,” Jonson said of the SEK4.6 billion (USD415 million) Swedish aid package announced on 9 September. Half the value of this package comprised the Gripen spares.
However, as was said, when the initial spares package was announced, Jonson re-emphasised that the current priority of the international fighter collation that includes Belgium, Denmark, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States is the ongoing delivery and support of the Lockheed Martin F-16 Fighting Falcons to the Ukrainian Air Force.
The single-seat and single-engined Gripen C (and/or the twin-seat and single-engined Gripen D operational trainer variant) would be a valuable addition to the Ukrainian Air Force inventory, in that it is a highly capable multirole combat aircraft (with an emphasis on point air defence) that is designed to be both easy to sustain and cheap to operate (arguably, Ukraine's three chief requirements in a combat jet right now).
“Gripens were part of our conversation today,” Jonson said of his meeting with Umerov. “It is not in the hands of ourselves, but on export licences and other partners in the fighter coalition who are waiting to donate the Gripen until they have gone further with the F-16.”
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