Ukraine Signs Letter of Intent with Sweden to Buy Up to 150 Gripen Jets

In a move that could provide near parity with the Russian Air Force, Ukraine on Wednesday signed a letter of Intent (LOI) with Sweden to procure between 100-150 JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

The LOI was signed on October 22 in Linköping, the manufacturing base of Saab where Gripen jets are produced. When materialized, the Ukrainian sale will be the biggest export sale of Gripen jets to date

“I am proud to have welcomed President Zelenskyy to Sweden and Linköping. Today we have signed an important Letter of Intent, marking a step towards a massive possible export deal regarding Gripen – likely between 100 and 150 fighter jets, to build a new and very strong Ukrainian Air Force.

President Zelenskyy also got the chance to see first-hand the impressive capabilities of the Gripen fighter. This will strengthen both Ukraine, Sweden and Europe.”, said Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson.

Sweden supports the development of Ukraine’s future air force. This new Swedish-Ukrainian cooperation will include exchange of experience and knowledge on air combat and defence and on the use of advanced capabilities in this area, for example fighter aircraft, said a Swedish MoD statement.

Ukraine has unique experience of air combat and defence that Sweden can harness. Correspondingly, Sweden has experience of developing and operating advanced systems such as JAS 39 Gripen, the statement added.

While the type of aircraft is not known yet, it will mostly be the recently developed Gripen E version which includes features of 4.5 generation aircraft and has recently entered service with the Swedish Air Force

Current Ukrainian aircraft such two -decades old F-16s besides Soviet-era Su-27 and MiG-29 have proven ineffective in containing the Russian Air Force.