Ukraine has announced its interest in making a possible major acquisition of Saab Gripen E fighters, with a letter of intent (LOI) having been signed with the Swedish government on 22 October.

Writing on X after a meeting with Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said: “We greatly value our relations with Sweden and all forms of support for our people. Today, one of the key topics of our negotiations was strengthening Ukraine’s defence capabilities.

“We consider the JAS 39 Gripen aircraft to be one of the most effective elements of this effort and count on the first deliveries of Gripens already in 2026,” he adds.

Kristersson says that during a visit to Saab’s Linkoping production site, “President Zelensky got a chance to see first-hand the impressive capabilities of the Gripen fighter.

“This will strengthen both Ukraine, Sweden and Europe,” he says of the LOI agreement.

“We are one step closer to seeing Gripen protect Ukraine’s airspace,” says Swedish defence minister Pal Jonson, adding: “Sweden supports, and wants to contribute to a strong and modern Ukrainian air force.

“Ukraine has asked for 100-150 Gripen E and we are looking into how this can be financed,” he confirms.

The Ukrainian air force has had a long interest in the Gripen, with the Swedish type well suited to performing operations from austere sites including adapted road strips. However, this had previously been expected to involve a possible acquisition of donated C/D-model examples from the Swedish air force’s current inventory of almost 100 of the type.

Any such order would be represent a big success for Saab, which has to date secured orders to produce a combined 96 Gripen E/Fs for Sweden (60) and Brazil (36).

The Swedish air force placed its first two Gripen Es into service on 20 October at its Satenas air base, with the new assets assigned to its F7 Wing.

News of the potential Gripen acquisition emerged just days after Kyiv also revealed its interest in acquiring Bell AH-1Z attack and UH-1Y utility helicopters, after signing an LOI with the US airframer.