Sweden to donate 16 Gripen C/D fighters and sell Ukraine up to 22 new Gripen E in $2.7 billion air-defence package

Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed a declaration on deepening defence cooperation at Uppsala Air Base on 28 May, with two Gripen JAS 39s on display behind them, formalising the largest single Swedish aid package for Ukraine to date at about $2.7 billion. Sweden will transfer 16 older Gripen C/D fighters as bilateral aid with deliveries from early 2027, and Ukraine has agreed to purchase 20 to 22 new Gripen E/F aircraft -- the most modern Saab variant -- with €2.5 billion drawn from the European Union's €90 billion Ukraine Support Loan; deliveries of the new model are expected from 2030. The package also commits nearly $400 million to drone production and provides for joint work under the so-called Drone Deal format and a future bilateral security and defence agreement.

"Ukraine has very clearly identified the Gripen as its choice and priority for long-term air defence. Ukraine would like to acquire the latest model -- the Gripen E/F. Ukraine will purchase 22 Gripen E-series aircraft. Negotiations are ongoing, and we will conclude them and be able to deliver these aircraft by 2030," Kristersson said at the joint press conference, adding that Sweden will also provide aircraft maintenance and pilot training. Zelenskyy said training had already begun. "We expect to receive the first capabilities, the first Gripens, within the next ten months. We will do everything on our end. I think we will receive the first Gripens with our Ukrainian pilots in December or January," he said. He said Ukraine still intended to buy all 150 jets envisaged in the letter of intent the two countries signed in October 2025. "We are counting on these €90 billion. We will do this step by step. We need these aircraft, and this is a new page for Ukraine." Of Sweden, he added: "It is precisely such determination, as in Sweden, that brings peace closer, and we would very much like some of our other partners... to be just as consistent, principled, and to help within what they really can."

The Gripen package marks a reversal. In 2024 Sweden suspended plans to send Gripens after partner countries asked it to prioritise US F-16 deliveries first; Swedish Defence Minister Pål Jonson said at the time that "the introduction simultaneously of two systems of air combat is very complex and it is appropriate now to focus on the entry of the F-16 into service in the Ukrainian air force." Jonson said this week that pilots and technicians had already begun training on the jets and that the effort would expand this autumn. "Gripen C/D answers urgent needs. Gripen E/F builds the future," he wrote, describing the aircraft as designed for a country that may have to "fight outnumbered, under pressure and from dispersed bases" -- a description Euromaidan Press observed closely matches Ukrainian operating conditions.

The 16 Gripen C/D donated by Sweden will arrive with a weapons package that includes long-range Meteor air-to-air missiles, the IRIS-T short-range missile, AMRAAM medium-range missiles and electronic-warfare capabilities. Zelenskyy said Ukraine would receive missiles with a range exceeding 200 kilometres and could push Russian aircraft far enough back that they could not use guided aerial bombs against Ukrainian targets. The Gripen E variant Ukraine will buy is powered by a General Electric F414G engine, reaches close to Mach 2 with a combat radius of over 800 kilometres, carries the Raven ES-05 active electronically scanned array radar and Saab's Arexis electronic-warfare suite, and can carry up to 7.2 tonnes of payload across 10 hardpoints. Flyaway cost is around $85 million per Gripen E, with the total cost per aircraft -- including service and accessories -- closer to $135 million, and the flight-hour cost roughly $10,000 against about $30,000 for the F-16, according to Militarnyi analyst Vadym Kushnikov.

The deal was a market event for Saab. Chief executive Micael Johansson, speaking to Reuters at the Uppsala air base, called it "a big day" for the company and said it added to the momentum around the type: "The more countries that select the Gripen fighter... and it starts flying in operations in more countries, the more people understand what a fantastic capability this is." Saab shares were up 4.4 percent at 1141 GMT, making the company the top gainer in Europe. Saab can produce 20 to 30 Gripen E per year, according to Militarnyi, with Sweden itself waiting on 60 jets following deliveries that began in October 2025, Brazil ordered 36 (11 received and local assembly under way), Colombia 17 and Thailand 4. Ukraine also aims to localise Gripen production from 2033.

Sweden has been one of Ukraine's largest backers since Russia's 2022 invasion, contributing 128 billion Swedish crowns ($13.75 billion) in military and civilian aid to date with a further 80 billion crowns earmarked for this year and next. Ukraine currently operates a few dozen F-16AM+ donated by Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden, and fewer than 10 Mirage 2000-5F donated by France; Russia's air force outnumbers Ukraine's by about eight to one overall and four to five to one in aircraft actively flying combat sorties. Andrii Kharuk, a professor at the National Academy of Ground Forces, said the Mauser cannon on the Gripen could be used against Shahed drones, and that deploying the aircraft against the launch platforms for Russian glide bombs would be even more impactful as it could push those aircraft away from Ukrainian airspace. "In all likelihood, these aircraft will undergo their real combat testing in the skies over Ukraine," he concluded.