Through a new contract signed with SAAB, the Material Directorate (Försvarets materielverk- FMV) of the Swedish Armed Forces ensured the continuity of a good part of the JAS 39 C/D Gripen fleet while receiving the Gripen NG.
The original agreement for the development and modification of the Gripen JAS 39E, which was signed in February 2013, is based on the reuse of certain equipment from the existing Gripen C/D Gripen fleet.
Instead of reusing equipment from the Gripen C / D, FMV now decided to procure new equipment for part of the total of 60 Gripen E ordered by Sweden. This is the third order in which the proportion of recycled material is reduced and means that a total of 40 JAS 39Es will be built from new production items instead of being recycled.
«This ensures the possibility for the Armed Forces to operate Gripen C/D aircraft in parallel to the delivery and deployment of the Gripen E,» said Ingela Mathiasson, Head of Aviation Equipment at FMV.
The contract with Saab is an additional order to the original 2013 Gripen E agreement. The order value amounts to about SEK 1.4 billion, or about $150 million.
