Not long ago, the First Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Lieutenant General Ivan Havrylyuk officially confirmed that the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is counting on receiving Gripen aircraft. The main problem is that this will not happen in the near future.
Points of attention
- Significant progress in providing Gripen aircraft to Ukraine is yet to be seen, as the dialogue continues between the parties.
- The Ukrainian army is in need of powerful aircraft, highlighting the importance of overcoming the obstacles in the acquisition process.
Gripen for Ukraine — what is known
What is important to understand is that the JAS 39 Gripen (Swedish: Gripen — griffin) is a Swedish fourth-generation multi-role fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Saab.
The Swedish Ministry of Defense told reporters that as of today, there have been no significant developments in the issue of providing these aircraft to Ukraine.
The work is ongoing, and we do not have any new information on this issue… We are conducting a constructive and in-depth dialogue with Ukraine,” the defense department said in a statement.
As Expressen notes, the Ukrainian army aims to receive the JAS 39 in the C/D version, as well as purchase new aircraft in the Gripen E version.
Journalists draw attention to the fact that in the first case we are talking about quite old vehicles that cannot boast of effective combat capabilities.
First of all, it concerns the combat load and range, which are relatively small.
What is important to understand is that Gripen E is a much more powerful aircraft that meets all modern requirements for generation 4+ fighters.
