Sweden urged to hold off sending Gripen to Ukraine amid ongoing talks
November 22, 2024
1,000 days into Russia’s illegal invasion, Sweden’s support for Ukraine remains steadfast. The country has allocated materiel kits to be used in the manufacture of up to 14 Swedish Gripen Es, which will ‘free up’ 14 Gripen C/Ds which would otherwise have been used to source these parts. The Coalition is still advising against donating these Gripens to Ukraine until more progress is made in integrating donated F-16s and Mirage 2000-5Fs. Additionally, Sweden has made no clarification on the timeline of donating its two AEW&C ASC 890 aircraft to Ukraine.
This morning’s announcement comes a day after Swedish minister for defence Pål Jonson met with representatives from the Swedish research agency and the Swedish defence procurement agency Försvarets Materielverk (FMV), with discussions with representatives of the Swedish defence industry to follow later today. Against these meetings looms the shadow of ongoing Russian escalation: exemplified by this week’s targeting of the Ukrainian city of Dnipro by what Russian President Vladimir Putin described as “a new conventional intermediate-range missile”.
“This is not about supporting – this is about building a true and strong partnership between two countries,” explained Jonson, who confirmed that Sweden remains steadfast in its support of Ukraine – something he described as “an investment into our own security”. Having provided more than SK 4.7 billion in assistance so far, the next instalment to be announced in January (Sweden’s 18th to date) will include SK 25 billion in 2025 and 2026, with Sweden “ready to do more if needed”.
Specifically, the Swedish government is “ready to contribute with substantial funding for the mass-production of long-range missiles and drones,” clarified Jonson. Noting that Sweden would be investing via the Danish model, he added that Denmark has been ramping up the production of its own defence equipment by an “impressive amount”.
However, despite the provision of Swedish-produced assets (notably, the JAS Gripen) also featuring in yesterday’s conversation, Sweden has again been urged to hold off on their potential donation to allow focus to remain firmly on the F-16’s integration. Although Sweden’s previous aid package included provision for up to 14 platforms (having set aside SK 2.5 billion for their allocation), “donation of the Gripens is not in the hands of ourselves, it’s pending on export licenses and also the other actors in the coalition – primarily Denmark, Netherlands and the US,” added Jonson.
Although Gripen appears to be off the table (at least or now), “now our focus as been on the delivery of the Erieye platform as well,” continued Jonson. First pledged in June 2024, the Swedish ministry of defence described the donation of its two ASC 890s as “a completely new capability to strengthen [Ukraine’s] collective air defence,” with the pledge of the aircraft forming part of (at the time) Stockholm’s “largest military support backage to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began”.
