TSAMTO, July 4. Sweden's Ambassador to the Czech Republic, Frederik Jorgensen, said that the Czech Republic's Air Force can keep all JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters in its composition free of charge after the lease expires, which ends in 2029.
As reported by Scramble.nl, this statement was made on June 30 against the background of information that the Czech Ministry of Defense is considering the possibility of replacing 14 JAS-39C/D Gripen fighters currently leased from Swedish Saab by acquiring at least 24 F-35A Lightning-2 fighters of the corporation Lockheed Martin.
As TSAMTO has already reported, after a study with an assessment of the needs for combat aviation, the Czech Air Force handed over to the Ministry its proposal for the purchase of new aircraft. According to information obtained by the local daily newspaper Echo24, the F-35A is considered the favorite among the candidates. Other candidates under consideration were the JAS-39 Gripen in the new version of the E/F of Saab, the EF-2000 Typhoon of the Eurofighter GmbH consortium and the F-16V of Lockheed Martin Corporation.
This information was confirmed on June 22 by a representative of Lockheed Martin during the ILA-2022 air show in Berlin.
"Negotiations are currently underway with two countries interested in buying the F-35," J. R. McDonald, vice president for strategy and business Development of the F–35, told reporters at a briefing at the air show. "As far as I know, the Czech Republic is close to making a decision." Another country that has entered into negotiations is Greece with a potential purchase of 20 units of F-35A.
The Czech Ministry of Defense is interested in acquiring a total of 24 new fighters, which would mean the creation of an additional tactical squadron compared to the current fleet of Gripen fighters of the Czech Air Force.
The Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic should decide on the extension of the lease agreement or the choice of a new type of fighter in 2025.
Recall that all 14 JAS-39C/D Gripen of the Czech Air Force have recently been upgraded to the MS20 configuration.
