Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt and her Swedish counterpart Peter Hultqvist have signed an agreement to partner on future combat air.

The Memorandum of Understanding commits both governments to work on a joint combat air development and acquisition programme, including the development of new concepts to meet both nations’ future requirements.

The Defence Secretary said:

“The UK and Sweden have an enduring defence relationship, with our two industries sharing a rich history of collaboration in air power.

Not only do we share the same commitment to tolerance, freedom and free trade, we also share the same determination to defend those values, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and today as part of the UK’s Joint Expeditionary Force. This agreement further deepens this partnership and sees us look to the future with a bold and shared vision of UK and Swedish air power.”

Announcing the signature of the Memorandum of Understanding at the Royal International Air Tattoo, the Minister of Defence Procurement, Stuart Andrew, said:

“I’m delighted that we have signed this Memorandum of Understanding, endorsing a shared and ambitious vision for future combat air systems which lays firm foundations for future collaboration.

Today we usher in an exciting new era in which the talents of two great combat air nations will be combined to lift Swedish and British airpower into the stratosphere.”

The Defence Minister outlined the UK and Sweden’s long partnership on defence, including:

  • Joint exercises in the Arctic and in Exercise Ramstein Alloy over the Eastern European skies.
  • Swedish-made chaff and flare dispensers are used on UK
  • Typhoons and Saab’s Giraffe radar is a key part of the UK’s Sky Sabre ground-based air defence system.
  • Swedish Gripen aircraft are equipped with radars designed and built by Leonardo in Edinburgh.
  • The UK, working with European partners including Sweden, has developed the state-of-the-art beyond-visual-range Meteor air to air missiles.

The Swedish Minister of Defence, Peter Hultqvist, confirmed both governments intend to remain at the forefront of combat air.

He stressed the opportunities to put advanced technologies onto Gripen and Typhoon, the world class combat aircraft currently operated by Sweden and the UK respectively, before inserting these technologies onto a future combat air system.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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52 COMMENTS

  2. It’s going to be interesting to see exactly what tech makes it onto our current typhoons as is the plan. Where’s the money coming from?
    I have heard about plans to upgrade the engines with help from reaction engines to make it a high Mach aircraft. Does anyone know if the aerodynamics and materials of the Typhoon can take the extra speed, heat and strain on the airframe?

    • i heard that it was the typhoons engine that was being looked at not the airframe and that it would possibly be used on the tempest

      • I assume the tech behind the eurofighter is owned by the joint venture created to build them.and so not available to us to use.

    • The Sabre engines that Reaction Engines are developing need to cool air from over 1000C down to -150C in less than a thousandth of a second. They’ve recently proved the precooler works in static ground tests in the USA. While I doubt we’ll ever see a Typhoon travelling at Mach 13, there’s possible technology transfer to use a precooler to improve performance.

  3. I commented on this partnership yesterday in another thread.

    Could we finally see what I’ve been advocating for some time now, UK Gripen E and F for the RAF, EJ200 thrust vectored engines with increased thrust?

    Conformal fuel tanks have already been designed for it and this would be a sensible way forward for our future defence capability.

    The F (2 seat) is the perfect fit for both EW and controlling future drones.

    Tempest.

    “Leonardo UK managing director Norman Bone tells FlightGlobal that he hopes Italy will be the next nation to join the Tempest activity. “We see this as absolutely the right thing to do,” he says.”
    https://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/riat-sweden-joins-formation-with-uk-on-tempest-prog-459800/

    • i really dont see a need for the gripen in the raf – if we had to add a new plane the f-35a would be the more obvious choice – perhaps those upgraded typhoons – new radar, thrust vectoring and conformal tanks – would be a better choice

      • @John Pattullo- Yes, the tranche 3 Typhoon and Gripen. The tranche 1&2 can be sold off or, used for spares.

  5. The truth is Sweden are a tiny country both in terms of g.d.p. and population. They will offer us nothing we can’t do for ourselves.

  7. This would have been a good opportunity to get the RBS-15. As usual, our incompetent Government has made no plans for anti ship missiles for our skeleton navy.

  8. The swedes had walked. Now as Mordaunt has just walked or been sacked from the government depending on the news website you are reading, this might be dead before it started.

  10. No reason in theory why BAES and SAAB can’t offer two coplementary airframes with the same technology, software and systems: single engine assembled in Sweden and twin engine assembled in the UK. Obviously the twin will go further, carry more, and have more power margin for whizzy EW or lasers. The single will be cheaper, lighter, and less versatile. But with a smart industrial alliance a lot of the technology could be shared.

  11. This is very positive. For the Tempest project the UK could supply the fuselage, engines, weapon systems, avionics and radar etc and the Swedes could supply an MDF seat for the cockpit flat packed with some easy to understand instructions and an Allen key.

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