Key Points and Summary – Ukraine is signaling interest in Sweden’s JAS-39 Gripen, with deputy defense minister Ivan Havryliuk hinting Kyiv expects Western fighters including Gripen alongside F-16s and Mirages.
-Stockholm confirms talks but no deal; any transfer would likely be Gripen E, with AESA radar, F414 engine, low operating costs, and a design optimized for dispersed highway basing—well suited to Ukraine’s austere operations.
A Swedish Air Force JAS 39 Gripen participating in NATO exercise Ramstein Flag 24 flies over the west coast of Greece, Oct. 4, 2024. Over 130 fighter and enabler aircraft from Greece, Canada, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom and United States are training side by side to improve tactics and foster more robust integration, demonstrating NATO’s resolve, commitment and ability to deter potential adversaries and defend the Alliance. (U.S. Air Force photo by Tech. Sgt. Emili Koonce)
JAS 39 Gripen Fighter From Sweden. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Sweden touts survivability from road-runway operations, mirroring tactics Ukraine already uses.
-Financing is the sticking point: Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson says jets wouldn’t be donated and Kyiv must decide between Gripen and alternatives such as Eurofighter amid long-term air-defense force planning.
JAS 39 Gripen E for Ukraine?
WARSAW, POLAND – The Ukrainian Air Force dreams of acquiring a fighter aircraft such as the Swedish-made JAS-39 Gripen. That dream appeared to be closer to reality on Sept. 30 amid reports that Ukraine‘s Deputy Defense Minister, Ivan Havryliuk, said his country’s Air Force expects additional deliveries of Western-made fighter aircraft, and that the Gripen would be among them.
“Practically, you named the nomenclature correctly, but I won’t go into detail about when, what, or which,” Havryliuk said, when asked by the BBC if Ukraine was expecting deliveries of the Gripen, along with additional French-made Dassault Mirage 2000s and new F-16s.
From the Swedish side, however, there is no confirmation. Swedish authorities do acknowledge that negotiations on the delivery of the Gripen have occurred.
“There have been ongoing talks between Sweden and Ukraine for some time about the export/sale of Gripen E,” said Adam Schelin, a spokesman for Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson, according to SVT News. “But nothing is clear yet.”
The “E” version of the aircraft is the latest and most advanced version of the fighter, with an active electronically scanned array radar and a higher-thrust GE F414 engine.
An Ideal Solution
A dispersed-basing exercise in Sweden in springtime last year was an opportunity to view the JAS-39 Gripen being put through its paces – and not on an airbase.
The aircraft can be removed from its home base, flown from highway airstrips, and maintained from the back of a truck full of support equipment.
“These dispersed operations are something that is part of our air force’s DNA,” Tommy Petersson, Deputy Commander of the Swedish Air Force, told a group of reporters at Skaraborg Air Force Wing in May 2024. This ability to operate away from the regular airbase is what makes the Gripen the most survivable fighter in the Western world.
Dispersed basing was a concept historically practiced only by one other air force in the world – the Soviet Union’s. When Russia invaded in 2022, Ukrainian pilots fell back on the Soviet-era practice – they had already diverted to alternate, secondary aerodromes.
JAS 39 Gripen. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
Facing the prospect of an overwhelming armada of Russian airpower, Ukrainian fighter pilots used such adaptive tactics from the start of the war.
They regularly relocated aircraft to secondary or austere airfields to prevent the planes being destroyed on the ground when the Russians targeted main airbases.
The Gripen is the only fighter in the Western world that is designed from the rivets up to be capable of dispersed operations. It is, therefore, the sole aircraft that so specifically fits the Ukrainian model of air combat.
Financing and Operating Costs
As of this date, Sweden and Ukraine have not reached an agreement on the supply of Gripens to Ukraine.
Discussions on the subject have been ongoing for years as Kyiv seeks to modernize its air force with western jets.
It now wants to supplant its F-16s and Mirages with another model of fighter.
The Gripen and the Eurofighter are mentioned as leading possibilities. The Eurofighter is a heavier, two-engine aircraft that has interesting capabilities, but its operational cost per flight hour is the highest in the industry, while the Gripen’s numbers are some of the lowest.
The latest JAS-39E/F models have a per-flight hour cost of $6–8,000. Most other fighter aircraft are several times that number, with the Eurofighter exceeding $35,000 per hour.
Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday that he and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had discussed Kyiv’s interest in the Gripen.
“We discussed the continued cooperation on developing Ukraine’s future defense, including air defense, and Ukraine’s interest in Gripen fighters,” Kristersson posted on X.
Kristersson told Reuters the jets would not be donated, and that Ukraine was considering whether its future air defense and fighter capabilities should consist of Gripens, or another aircraft.
“They obviously need to build up a stronger air defense in the long term. Even post-war defense,” he said.
“The financing part of that is a fundamental thing, for which there is not a solution for now.”
About the Author: Reuben F. Johnson
Reuben F. Johnson has thirty-six years of experience analyzing and reporting on foreign weapons systems, defense technologies, and international arms export policy. Johnson is the Director of Research at the Casimir Pulaski Foundation. He is also a survivor of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. He worked for years in the American defense industry as a foreign technology analyst and later as a consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, the Departments of the Navy and Air Force, and the governments of the United Kingdom and Australia. In 2022-2023, he won two awards in a row for his defense reporting. He holds a bachelor’s degree from DePauw University and a master’s degree from Miami University in Ohio, specializing in Soviet and Russian studies. He lives in Warsaw.
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Jim
October 5, 2025 at 3:39 pm
Stay out of my backyard! (reasonable) We are ready! Sweden’s military technologies are strong. There are other countries across Europe who have strong military industries.
But the course of events has shown Europe is cranky… they didn’t get what they wanted: strategic defeat for Russia.
And, depending how cranky Europe is, at any given moment, it’s the Old Man yelling, “Get off my lawn!”
Good grief, Charlie Brown.