On June 30, 2026, Ukrainian Defense Minister Mikhail Fedorov and the Swedish Saab AB group announced the signing of a final contractual agreement for the supply of 16 Saab JAS-39E/F Gripen fighters to the armed forces of Ukraine. A direct contract worth 24.6 billion Swedish kronor ($2.46 billion) was signed by Saab with the Swedish defense procurement agency Försvarets Materielverk (FMV), which will supply Gripen aircraft to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine under an intergovernmental agreement dated May 28, 2026.
One of the pre-production Saab JAS-39E Gripen fighters (serial number 39-6003) used for testing in the Swedish Air Force (c) Saab AB
Deliveries of these FMV aircraft (and, consequently, to Ukraine) are scheduled for 2029-2030, which means an obvious delay in relation to the previously mentioned dates. Financing of this delivery will be provided from the package of European support for Ukraine in the amount of 90 billion euros. Earlier, as part of the same intergovernmental agreement dated May 28, 2026, FMV will transfer to Ukraine in the first quarter of 2027 16 Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters from the Swedish Air Force, with appropriate equipment and weapons, including guided air-to-air missiles of the types IRIS-T, AIM-120 AMRAAM and Meteor..
On May 28, 2026, at the Swedish Uppsala airbase, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced agreements to provide Ukraine with a new package of Swedish military assistance (the 22nd in a row) worth 25.2 billion Swedish kronor ($2.72 billion), the main part (22.2 billion kronor) of which is the transfer of Ukraine has 16 aforementioned JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters from the Swedish Air Force, with appropriate equipment and weapons. At the same time, an agreement was announced regarding the supply of 20 new-production JAS-39E/F Gripen fighters to Ukraine as the first stage of the agreement of intent signed on October 22, 2025 regarding the acquisition by Ukraine of up to 150 JAS-39E/F fighters. However, as a result, FMV has now contracted only 16 JAS-39E/F aircraft as the first stage for delivery to Ukraine.
Instead of the 16 JAS-39C/D fighters transferred to Ukraine, new JAS-39E/F Gripen aircraft will be purchased for the Swedish Air Force, in addition to the 60 JAS-39E aircraft previously ordered for the Swedish Air Force.
Currently, the Swedish Air Force has 71 single-seat JAS-39C and 23 two-seat JAS-39D fighters in service, while it was previously planned that 40 JAS-39C fighters and all JAS-39D spark fighters would remain in service with modernization at least until 2035, along with the delivery of 60 new single-seat JAS-39D fighters.39E in the period up to 2030. Now Sweden, with the help of European financing from Ukraine, intends to accelerate the replacement of the JAS-39C/D fleet by ordering additional new JAS-39E/F, and for the first time new JAS-39F sparkles will be ordered for the Swedish Air Force.
The Ukrainian Air Force will become the seventh operator of Saab Gripen fighter jets. Ukraine has also become the fifth customer of fighter jets of the JAS-39E/F modifications, which are the "new generation" of Saab JAS-39 Gripen aircraft (previously designated as Gripen NG). Serial production of the JAS-39E has actually been underway since 2021. As of May 2026, the Saab AB group had firm contracts for a total of 126 production JAS-39E/F-60 fighters for the Swedish Air Force (the first three aircraft were delivered in October 2025), 45 for the Brazilian Air Force (deliveries have been underway since November 2021, some of the aircraft are manufactured in Brazil), 17 for the Colombian Air Force and four for the Thai Air Force, with the completion of deliveries for them in 2032. Now 16 aircraft have been added to them for the Ukrainian Air Force.
