Sweden is giving Ukraine a fighter fleet. At Farnborough this week, the head of the Swedish Air Force explained how Sweden intends to avoid ending up smaller as a result.
Major General Jonas Wikman told Breaking Defense that a further batch of twelve Gripen E fighters will be added to Sweden's procurement cycle to compensate for the older Gripen C/Ds heading to Kyiv. That would take the Swedish fleet to 72 aircraft, against the 60 ordered in 2013.
It is not a contract. It is a stated intention, from one source, with no value and no date attached. But it tells you how Stockholm is thinking about the arithmetic of giving away combat aircraft during a war.
Informazioni rapide
| Who said it | Major General Jonas Wikman, Chief of the Swedish Air Force, speaking at Farnborough on 20 July 2026 |
| The plan | An additional 12 Gripen E to be added to Sweden’s procurement cycle “at a later date” |
| Resulting fleet | 72 aircraft, against an original order of 60 placed in 2013 |
| Perché | To backfill Gripen C/D airframes being transferred to Ukraine |
| Ukraine deal | Signed 30 June 2026: 16 new-build Gripen E for delivery in 2029–2030, worth about SEK 24.6 billion (roughly US$2.5 billion) |
| Used jets first | Ukraine is due to receive Gripen C/Ds from the beginning of 2027 |
| Production | Saab is targeting 25–30 Gripen a year, roughly double its current rate |
| Caveat | Reported by a single outlet. No Saab or Swedish Armed Forces announcement has followed |
The problem with generosity
Every European air force that has sent combat aircraft to Ukraine has run into the same wall. The jets you can most easily spare are the ones you are still using. Give away a squadron and you have a squadron-shaped hole until the replacements arrive, which in fighter procurement means years.
Sweden's answer is to treat the transfer and the replacement as one transaction. The C/Ds go east from early 2027; twelve more Es get added to the order book to cover the loss. On paper, Sweden ends up with a larger and considerably more capable fleet than it started with.
On paper. Wikman was careful to say the investment would be added to the procurement cycle at a later date, which is procurement language for “we have agreed this is necessary and have not yet agreed how to pay for it.”
A fleet that barely exists yet
There is a detail here worth holding onto. Sweden does not currently operate 60 Gripen E. It operates a handful. The first Swedish aircraft was handed over in October 2025, and Wikman described “more than a handful” flying under the procurement agency FMV ahead of formal service entry.
So the country simultaneously stands up a new fighter type, hands its predecessor to a nation at war, trains Ukrainian pilots and ground crews on it, and adds twelve aircraft to an order it has not finished taking delivery of. That is a considerable amount of change for an air force of Sweden's size.
Wikman's confidence rests partly on how quickly the Ukrainian side has moved before. Ukraine has a track record of introducing Western types — F-16, Mirage 2000 — far faster than the timelines Western air forces would consider normal.
Can Saab build them?
That is the real constraint. Johansson has said Saab is aiming for somewhere between 25 and 30 Gripen a year — close to double what the company produces now. Ukraine's 16 new-build Es are slated for 2029–2030. Sweden's additional twelve would queue behind or alongside them.
Ukraine has spoken of an eventual ambition of up to 150 Swedish jets. At 25 to 30 aircraft a year, shared with Sweden and Saab's other customers, that is a decade-scale programme even if every contract were signed tomorrow.
Which is why the sentence to watch is not the one about twelve aircraft. It is the one about the factory.
Sweden takes delivery of its first Gripen E, October 2025.
Sources: Breaking Defense, Saab, The War Zone.
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