Sweden to upgrade its entire Gripen fleet
The Swedish Defense Agency and Saab signed an agreement to upgrade the air force’s JAS 39 Gripen C/D combat aircraft.
The contract is worth SEK 3.5 billion (USD 336 million) and includes replacement of the jet’s engines, radar, avionics and other systems.
“This upgrade will give the Swedish Air Force a significantly stronger combat capacity. The contract is a major step forward in terms of radar performance and functionality, both for the hardware and software, and will future-proof Gripen C/D’s operational capability,” Jonas Hjelm, head of Aeronautics at Saab, is quoted as saying in the company’s press release.
The release explains that the upgrade is intended to improve interoperability between the Gripen C/D and the latest Gripen E, indicating that upgraded aircraft will not be brought to full Gripen E standard.
According to the World Air Forces 2023 index, Sweden operates 71 Gripen C single-seat and 23 Gripen D two-seat fighters. In 2013, the country ordered 60 Gripen Es, the latest variants of the aircraft.
From the beginning, it was intended that the old Gripen C would be upgraded to the E standard, but the choice to build new aircraft was made later.
The Gripen C/D, developed in the late 1990s as an upgrade to the earlier Gripen A/B, is a single-engine fourth-generation fighter aircraft operated by several countries, including the Czech Republic, Hungary and Thailand. It is designed to operate from austere environments and is often considered one of the cheapest Western combat aircraft.
The E/F variants of the Gripen were developed in the 2010s to improve on all aspects of previous models. The Gripen E features a new General Electric F414 engine, an upgraded fuselage, new avionics and electronic warfare, and other changes.
The new variant has so far only been bought by Sweden and Brazil, although it participated in several tenders and often lost to the fifth-generation Lockheed Martin F-35.
As early as March 2022, Saab was awarded a $52 million contract to extend the life of Sweden’s Gripen C/D to 2035.