Swedish arms maker Saab is reportedly considering opening a final assembly plant in Ukraine for its Gripen multirole fighters in the future.
The rumor came after Kyiv and Stockholm signed a letter of intent to sell 100-150 of the latest-generation Series E Gripen fighters to Ukraine over the next 10-15 years.
The Financial Times (FT), citing Saab CEO Micael Johansson, said the plant is eyeing production expansion in Brazil, and possibly in Canada and elsewhere in Europe – plus Ukraine – to cope with the high number of jets planned.
“It is not so easy during a war, but it would be great to set up a capacity for at least final assembly and tests and maybe part production in Ukraine,” Johansson told the FT.
Johansson said the planned deal – which Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson hailed as a “long-term” agreement with no immediate deliveries – marked a huge jump from current production numbers.
Saab has currently sold 60 Series E Gripens to Sweden, 36 to Brazil, and four to Thailand, the FT wrote.
The current invested production in Brazil is able to churn out 20-30 jets per year, according to Johansson.
Johansson echoed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comment during the signing ceremony that financing remains an important hurdle.
The Saab CEO hinted the recent EU plan to utilize frozen Russian assets might be used to finance the purchase – a plan that faces opposition from Belgium, which holds much of the frozen Russian assets in Europe.
“What needs to come into place is this financing solution that’s being discussed now at the political level: How much burden will Sweden take in terms of financing and risk, and how much can be shared without the countries, and how much can be used in terms of the Russian confiscated assets. That’s still not 100 percent clear,” Johansson told the FT.
After the signing of the letter of intent, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson also hinted at political and logistical hurdles that make deliveries in the near future “extremely difficult.”
Sash Tusa, an aerospace and defense analyst at Agency Partners, told the FT that Saab is currently producing “just over half” of its previous peak of 18 jets. While he said Saab has a “better chance of doing this ramp-up than many would,” he also questioned its overall feasibility.
“The hardest bit is to go beyond your historic point of production,” Tusa said.
Kyiv and Stockholm have discussed the transfer of Swedish Gripen fighters for at least two years.
In late September, First Deputy Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Ivan Havrylyuk confirmed that the Gripen is among the jets Kyiv will receive when asked by a reporter, though Kyiv and Stockholm later refuted the report.
The transfer of Saab JAS 39 Gripens – light, single-engine supersonic multirole fighters – from Sweden to Ukraine has been in discussion since at least September 2024, with Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonsson offering to provide Ukrainian pilots with “familiarization training” as early as May 2023.
However, Kyiv initially turned down the proposal in July 2024 due to concerns about the feasibility of managing the initial bed-down of two different, complex aircraft systems simultaneously. At that time, Ukraine was entirely focused on implementing its F-16 program.
But during the signing ceremony, Zelensky said Kyiv aims to procure the latest model with advanced avionics that is likely to become the backbone of post-war Ukraine’s modernized air fleet.