Ukraine is negotiating to receive three types of aircraft — American F-16s, Swedish “Gripen”, and French “Rafale” jets.
President Volodymyr Zelensky reported this at a meeting with journalists.
"I am having three parallel conversations about aircraft — with the Swedes, with the French, and with the Americans. And the general request for the future of our combat aviation is a fleet of 250 new aircraft," he noted.
The President added that “Gripen” is one of the priority aircraft for Ukraine. This is because servicing these fighters is the cheapest, as the fewest number of people need to be involved.
"For our pilot with expertise and experience, itʼs not a year and a half of training, as, for example, we had with the F-16, but six months. All the take-off and landing technical capabilities of the ʼGripenʼ are also advantageous, you know — they can take off and land on runways," Zelensky emphasized.
He also emphasized that “Gripen” is convenient in terms of weapons use.
"When we didnʼt have the F-16 yet, we already started finding tools to use Western weapons on our Ukrainian Soviet-made aircraft. It took us months, we couldnʼt use the existing missiles, because there were no such suspensions. And it was difficult. But our engineers worked for us together with engineers from those countries whose weapons. So, as for ʼGripenʼ, everything hooks onto it. Probably, almost everything that Ukraine uses — missiles and other weapons — can all be hooked onto it," the president explained.
He added that, according to an agreement with Sweden, Ukraine will receive “Gripen” with all weapons. In addition, the countries have agreed on the localization of “Gripen”.
As for the “Rafale”, its appeal was that it was only necessary to negotiate with France, Zelensky said. However, the difficulty lay in the high demand for these aircraft in the world and, accordingly, the queues for production and supply.
How are “Gripen” fighters useful for Ukraine?
Unlike the F-16, the “Gripen” JAS 39 aircraft is undemanding to runways and easier to maintain between flights.
In addition, the cost of a flight hour for the JAS 39 is the lowest among fighters. For the JAS 39C/D model, this figure is $7 000-8 000, and for the JAS 39E/F, according to preliminary estimates, only $4 000.
The Guardian reported that Ukraine could purchase “Gripen” fighters from Sweden, paying for them with frozen Russian assets.
- On October 22, Sweden signed an agreement with Ukraine, which provides for the sale of 100 to 150 JAS 39 “Gripen E” fighters to Ukraine. Kyiv will receive the first “Gripen” aircraft from Sweden in 2026.
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