Sweden signed a letter of intent on Wednesday to sell up to 150 Swedish-produced Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, a development that President Volodymyr Zelensky characterized as a potentially critical addition to Kyiv’s war effort.
Since Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine has lobbied the White House and its European allies to supply it with powerful fighter jets to protect Ukrainian skies. But the jets have been slow to come, and the fleet Kyiv now has, which includes both F-16s and French Mirage jets, is relatively small.
If the Gripen deal is completed, the first jets could be delivered within the next three years, according to Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson of Sweden. Experts believe that the versatile Gripen jets may offer Ukraine some combat advantages over the long-sought F-16.
Here is a look at the jets and why Ukraine wants them.
What is the Gripen?
First flown in 1988, the Gripen is a lightweight, multi-role combat aircraft. Its capabilities range from air defense to ground attacks to long-range strikes. The jet is produced by the Swedish aerospace company Saab.
The Gripen carries much the same type of weaponry as the F-16, and both are supersonic aircraft.
Why does Ukraine want them?
The Gripen jets might be more suitable than F-16s for Ukraine’s war needs, experts say, because they are designed to be supported by a small number of troops who are not necessarily highly trained engineers. The jets allow for the quick loading of missiles without a lot of ground infrastructure.
“The Gripen family was designed from the outset to operate in austere, off-base locations — it’s in the DNA of the jet,” said Gareth Jennings, an aviation specialist at Janes, a defense intelligence publication. “The F-16 and other jets can do that, but it takes a lot more care, a lot more attention to detail, and it’s harder to do.”
For Ukraine, a country with large open spaces, the Gripen has the advantage of being designed to deal with so-called highway operations, in which planes take off and land on public roads, Mr. Jennings added. The Gripen jets are also designed to be quickly refueled in tough, cold conditions.
According to a report by the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank, some models of the Gripen have electronic warfare systems optimized for countering Russian fighters and radars.
Pranav Baskar is an international reporter and a member of the 2025-26 Times Fellowship class, a program for journalists early in their careers.
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