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Factbox-What are the Gripen fighter jets Ukraine wants to buy from Sweden?
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Global Banking and Finance Review
Company
Published by Global Banking and Finance Review
Posted on October 22, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
Ukraine plans to purchase up to 150 Gripen fighter jets from Sweden, highlighting their cost-effectiveness and global usage.
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) -Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to export up to 150 of Saab's Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine after talks in Linkoping, in southern Sweden, where the jets are produced.
WHAT IS THE GRIPEN?
Gripen is a fourth generation light single-engine supersonic fighter jet. It is a so-called multi-role fighter aircraft, designed for missions such as air-to-air combat, aerial bombing and reconnaissance. It is seen as a solid low-cost alternative to the more expensive fifth generation planes, such as the F-35.
Gripen, Swedish for the mythical creature Griffin, has been in commission since 1996 but has been upgraded several times. The first plane of the latest version, Gripen E, was delivered to the Swedish Air Force in October. In total more than 280 Gripens have been manufactured.
WHERE HAS THE GRIPEN BEEN USED?
Swedish media said Gripens were used in direct combat for the first time this year, when Thailand deployed fighter jets in confrontations with Cambodia. Prior to that, the Gripen has mainly been used for air policing and was deployed to Poland in 2025 as part of a NATO mission to patrol allied airspace. It was also used to enforce the NATO no-fly zone in Libya in 2014.
WHICH OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE BOUGHT THE GRIPEN?
Sweden, neutral until it joined the EU in 1995 and militarily unaligned until it joined NATO in 2024, has relied on Saab to supply its air force since World War Two. It took the decision to develop the Gripen in the 1980s.
The Gripen, which competes with Lockheed Martin's F-35 and F-16, Dassault Aviation's Rafale and Eurofighter, has been exported to South Africa, Thailand, Brazil, the Czech Republic and Hungary while Colombia has also decided to buy it.
WHAT ARE THE JETS' SPECIFICATIONS?
The Gripen E is just over 15 metres long, weighs 16.5 tonnes and can refuel, rearm and be back in the air in 10-20 minutes after landing, and is capable of operating from relatively rough air strips.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander; Editing by Niklas Pollard and Alison Williams)
The Gripen is a fourth-generation, light, single-engine supersonic fighter jet designed for various missions, including air-to-air combat and reconnaissance.
Air policing refers to the military activity of monitoring and protecting a country's airspace against unauthorized aircraft.
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, is a military alliance of countries from North America and Europe established for mutual defense.
A multi-role fighter aircraft is designed to perform multiple types of missions, such as air-to-air combat and ground attack.
The specifications of the Gripen, such as its size and operational capabilities, highlight its efficiency and versatility as a modern fighter jet.
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