Motivating the talks for Gripens and Typhoons, Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov said Russia currently uses up to 300 aircraft and the same number of helicopters in the war against Ukraine, which ‘poses a serious challenge to the Ukrainian military.’
After receiving F-16 fighters from European allies, Ukraine has announced it is “negotiating with its allies to acquire Swedish Gripen and European Eurofighter jets,” according to Defense Minister Rustem Umyerov’s announcement on television that was quoted by reports. Sweden previously confirmed discussions for its Gripen jets but had held off on a final decision, but the mention of Eurofighters is new.
“Now we already have from our partners that they give us a commitment for the F-16, they give a commitment for the Mirages,” said Umyerov. “Consultations are on (for) Gripen, consultations are on (for) Eurofighter. That is, this is a very good list of platforms, and we are discussing when they will start.”
The plans to donate a number of Mirage 2000-5 jets were officially announced by French President Emmanuel Macron early in June 2024, together with the training of Ukrainian pilots and troops in France. The first group of Ukrainian pilots also recently concluded the training on the Alpha Jet in France after an initial training phase in the UK.
Ukraine received its first F-16 fighter jets from its allies this summer, one of which was lost in a crash on Aug. 26, 2024, and a lot more aircraft are needed to achieve air superiority. According to Umerov, Ukraine’s ongoing negotiation with its allies currently revolve around “how many aviation brigades and planes are needed.”
Ukraine is in ongoing negotiations with allies to receive Eurofighter Typhoon and Saab JAS 39 Gripen multirole fighters, per Minister of Defense Rustem Umyerov. pic.twitter.com/wWkXacjCqG
— OSINTtechnical (@Osinttechnical) September 22, 2024
Umerov however did not shed specific light on the Eurofighters, indicating these may be very preliminary discussions, which can be assumed to not fructify in the short-term and might take several months to even a year. “The fourth-generation Eurofighter Typhoon multipurpose fighter is in service with many European countries, which can potentially transfer them to Ukraine,” Militarnyi added.
The Gripen is a very capable fighter, designed specifically to operate against Soviet forces from small runways, non-dedicated airfields and even highways and roads, thus being able to spread out and become harder to spot on the ground. Because of this, the Gripen could be ideally suited for Ukraine, as its air force has been operating like this since the start of the war to protect its assets.
Sweden also announced in May 2024 its transfer of the Saab S100D/ASC890 Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft to Ukraine. While in service in Sweden the aircraft has been operating from outside Ukrainian borders along with other NATO surveillance assets, however it is unknown when the transfer will take place.
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There are, however, two critical aspects which should be noted: the time required and the logistics. As happened with the F-16, a transfer of Gripens, Typhoons or Mirages would take time, as there is not only the physical transfer of the aircraft to be considered, but also all the training for both air and ground crews, maintenance personnel and logistics.
The other big problem is the logistics because, if hypothetically Ukraine was able to obtain all these aircraft, it would have to operate a very heterogeneous fleet of aircraft, each with its needs, resupply chain, and maintenance requirements. While not impossible (just think of Greece or Egypt, each operating four very different fighter types), this is a very complex task, especially for a country at war.
A wonderful shot by Tim Jansson of JAS 39 #Gripen on a road base in #Sweden. Truck drivers getting a free airshow! Photo: https://t.co/Rur4zRhWAU #avgeek pic.twitter.com/31RW6W1OHe
— Gripen News (@GripenNews) May 16, 2020
‘Ukraine needs more aircraft’
“Last year, we focused on training pilots, obtaining platforms and building infrastructure. This year, we are working to achieve superiority in the sky,” Umyerov added. The minister also noted that Russia currently uses “up to 300 aircraft and the same number of helicopters” in the war against Ukraine, which “poses a serious challenge to the Ukrainian military.”
He also “emphasized the importance of scaling up negotiations with partners regarding the increase of aviation, informing about solutions currently being worked on.” According to the reports, Umerov discussed with allies about how many aviation brigades and planes Ukraine should need, however details were not disclosed.
Gripen identified but yet to be approved
It would be important to mention that earlier this month, reports claimed President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the “start of test trials on Sweden’s prestigious Gripen multipurpose variants,” the Kyiv Independent said. “Stockholm signaled that their possible transfer to Ukraine remains on the table.”
However, Stockholm has taken some steps for the transfer, by including the Gripen spare parts in its Sep. 9, 2024, $443 million aid package for Ukraine. Sweden has also commenced acquiring components for the aircraft worth $221 million. A final decision on the transfer however was still to be made.
“By acquiring new materiel parts, a number of JAS 39C/D will be saved from being dismantled and can – if the Swedish government decides so – be considered for a possible future donation to Ukraine,” the Swedish defense ministry had said. These parts, to be acquired for the new upcoming Gripen E fighter, “pave the way for Sweden to be able to give Gripen of the older models C and D to Ukraine,” Aftonbladet reported. However, the announcement did “not mean that it is clear that Sweden will donate Gripen and that decision has not yet been made.”
Thus, these were just preparatory measures as talks on immediate or near-term donation of Gripen fighters were “on pause” at the time, Kyiv Independent added. The priority was the work on the transfer of the F-16s. Ukraine also had decided at the time that having two different types of fighters would be tricky maintenance and infrastructure-wise and thus focused on the F-16s.
Sweden’s Minister of Defense, Paul Jonson, who also said that the country was still to finally decide on the transfer of Gripen to Ukraine, said the reason is that Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway are already preparing the transfer of F-16s to Ukraine. Thus, the JAS-39 Gripen should wait so as not to interfere with the air coalition, he added.
