Will Saab Gripen C and D deliver jets to Ukraine?
The current world situation and Sweden's forthcoming entry into NATO are also changing a lot for Saab AB. The visit of the Ukrainian President to Sweden in the middle of the month naturally led – almost inevitably – to the cockpit of a Saab Gripen.
And the message that should be conveyed is clear.
Ukraine would be very interested in the Gripen because they urgently and quickly need modern air defenses in order to be able to counter the Russian aggressor effectively. The promised F-16 aircraft from various NATO partners are a first step. But no immediate solution. The American F-16 is considered complicated and expensive in direct comparison with the Saab Gripen. For Ukraine, the Swedish jet would probably be the better choice.
But could Saab deliver at all?
Saab Gripen C and D for Ukraine?
In fact, Saab AB could provide 14 new Gripen Jets relatively quickly. These are not the latest Gripen E series aircraft, but C/D specification aircraft. Saab has 14 new airframes in the factories ready to be fitted out at short notice, reports Svenska Dagbladet (Link).
A political decision in Stockholm that gives the green light for export to a war zone is of course required for this to happen.
The Saab Gripen would probably be the optimal aircraft
Gripen C and D would be the optimal aircraft for Ukraine. Compared to market competitors such as the General Dynamics F-16, the Saab jets are satisfied with a minimum of maintenance, the flight hours cost only a fraction and the training phase for new pilots is said to be comparatively short.
The Gripen C manages to take off and land with a compact runway that only needs to be 800 meters long and 16 meters wide. This makes the fighter jet extremely flexible when it comes to the choice of location. In this way, normal motorway sections can quickly become a military airport. Compared to the market competitors, the air availability is a lot higher due to the low maintenance effort, the decisive factor for the success of the air force.
The Saab Gripen are of course NATO compatible, Hungary and the Czech Republic have been using them for a long time. South Africa and Thailand also rely on the Swedish Gripen C/D jets. Brazil and Sweden, on the other hand, are already flying the latest F-39 Gripen E (Link).
With photos from Saab AB
It should be added that such a Gripen costs only a fraction of an F-35 to purchase and maintain, which Germany has opted for. The most expensive aircraft per flight hour ever and an enormous dependence on the American system supplier.
But I'm afraid smart decisions are beyond the resort of our current administration. Sorry Tom for politics, but sometimes you have to be allowed to say that.
Don't have to add. But the reverse cannot be stressed enough. But there was already a lot in the article about the cost of flying hours ...
The Gripen would certainly have been a smart, European alternative. But I fear that armament decisions do not follow the criteria that one might consider reasonable. I'll leave it open whether the F-35 will be a stroke of luck. In a few years, people will probably get upset about the high costs per flight hour.
I would have wished for this when Sweden joined NATO.
Better Saab planes than those expensive F16's.
I hope that other NATO countries are now more open to Saab aircraft. At that time, Saab lost in Belgium because a Saab could not carry nuclear weapons and Belgium decided in favor of the F35.
Because we in Europe are not at all "pro" when it comes to nuclear weapons, I personally hope that this argument will no longer lead to these decisions.
Interesting on this point is the book "American Grippen" by David Archibald !!
An exciting reference
Thanks Tom for this info. I'm a big fsn of everything that seems helpful to Ukraine itself. If it's a Saab, so much the better...
When one is ambushed, attacked, raped, ravaged by war and war crimes without being asked and through no fault of one's own, then any weapon becomes an innocent instrument of self-defense. Sticks and stones? Leopard or Cheetah? M or F16? Or a flu? Whatever?
Ukraine deserves everything they would like to have right now. If a Saab were there, it would be an honor for the AB.