Saab has announced that it has signed a contract with Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for the delivery of four Gripen E/F fighter aircraft to the Kingdom of Thailand, the company stated.
The deal, valued at approximately SEK 5.3 billion, covers three Gripen E and one Gripen F aircraft, along with associated equipment, support, and training. Deliveries are scheduled to take place between 2025 and 2030.
Saab confirmed that it has also signed a separate agreement with the Royal Thai Air Force to provide a long-term offset package. The company said this will include “significant transfer of defence technology and industrial cooperation with Thailand together with new investments across many sectors of the national economy.”
Micael Johansson, Saab’s President and CEO, welcomed the decision: “We welcome Thailand as the latest customer for Gripen E/F. Thailand is already a well-established Gripen user and familiar with the strengths that Gripen brings to the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Thailand has chosen the most modern fighter on the market with which to build its next generation of strategic, independent capabilities.”
Thailand already operates a squadron of Gripen C/D multi-role fighters. Saab noted that the new Gripen E/F aircraft will eventually serve alongside the existing fleet, enhancing the Royal Thai Air Force’s overall capability.
The Gripen E/F variant is the latest version of Saab’s multi-role fighter, incorporating updated avionics, sensors, and systems integration compared with earlier models, according to the company.
First export for the E model?
Post war, Ukraine would do very well to order a fleet of E/F Gripens to replace all its compbat aircraft, better than anything Russia operates, much cheaper to operate than the F16, designed for dispersed operations and genuinely multi role.
Brazil was first.
Quite right, how did I forget that…
Or buy even better and get the Typhoon 🤷🏻♂️
I would argue that Gripen E is already over match for anything Russia operates and its massively cheaper to own and operate ( by an order of magnitude) than Thypoon, or any other 4.5 gen fighter fir that matter.
Typhoon is a very complicated aircraft.
It was designed and built at an inflection point between everything have a CPU and local digital logic.
Remember what 1980’s electronics looked like – there is plenty of that living in there.
Quite agree with you on the cost saving compared to the Typhoon.
It’s not a question of how good the opponents fighters are, it’s a question of how good their air-to-air and surface-to-air missiles are. Ask the pilots who’ll be flying this aircraft as to which they prefer, and they’ll choose the one most likely to get their home alive, ie the Typhoon, and not the cheapest.
You appear not to have a terribly good understanding of Gripen E Mr Spock.
Check out its ‘actual’ capabilities and while you’re at it, check out how well the previous generation, Gripen C has done in Red Flag exercises over the years, spoiler alert, it’s wiped the floor with just about everything thrown at it!
No I understand… you’re one of those guys who because he drives a Saab car likes to pretend he’s on par with a fighter pilot 🤷🏻♂️
You sir are an idiot…
Quite agree with you on the cost saving compared to the Typhoon.
Four isn’t very many, unless they see them as replacements for earlier (or lost) models.
The Gripen is an ideal Aircraft for Ukraine, once this conflict is over or at a place where they can introduce another platform and ensure it is incorporated into the complete air defence system.