Swedish Gripens arrive for first out-of-country NATO air policing support
March 27, 2025
Swedish fighter jets from F21 Wing have arrived in Poland for the former’s first out-of-country air defence deployment, marking the first time Swedish combat aircraft are participating in Air Policing from an allied territory. Amid heightened geopolitical tension, the deployment commences some three weeks after Sweden, which was invited to participate by NATO, announced its intention to join the mission.
“Today Sweden is announcing that we plan to contribute with multiple JAS Gripen fighter jets to two NATO operations in Poland,” confirmed Swedish minister of defence Pål Jonson on 6 March. These operations include providing NATO logistical support to Ukraine and air policing over Poland, with a proposal submitted to parliament to send eight JAS Gripen”.
With ground elements of the unit having been in place for “a few weeks now,” explained the SwAF, there has been “intensive work to get everything working”. Head of the Swedish contingent Lieutenant Colonel Anders Gustaffson added: “Everything has gone according to plan so far in terms of preparations and transport…We will soon start delivering towards the task”.
With the aircraft flying in an operational capacity from April, Sweden’s contribution to enhanced Air Policing over Poland will run until June 2025. “As we approach the first anniversary of Sweden’s NATO accession… we are proud to be able to contribute more combat power to our allies,” concluded Jonson.
The exercise is being conducted in conjunction with RAF No.140 Expeditionary Air Wing Typhoons which have recently arrived from the UK’s RAF Lossiemouth. Enhanced Air Policing, part of NATO’s air defence security strategy, came into existence following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014; demonstrating what NATO describes as “the collective resolve of the Allies and the defensive nature of NATO, aiming to demonstrate the collective resolve of Allies”. Enhanced air policing operations, explain NATO, are “flexible and scalable in response to fluctuations in the security situation facing the Alliance”.
