Ukraine Seeking Eurofighter and Gripen Fighters from European Countries

Released on Sunday, September 22, 2024

 

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov reported that Kyiv is negotiating with Western allies on the supply of Swedish Gripen fighters and Eurofighters produced in several European countries.

"Consultations are underway on Gripen, consultations are underway on Eurofighter. That is, this is a very good list of platforms, and we are discussing when they will start," Ukrainian media quotes the minister as saying.

He expressed hope that the results of the negotiations could be announced in the near future. Umerov also recalled that Ukraine had already received guarantees from its partners that it would receive American F-16s and French Mirage-2000s.

At the same time, in July of this year, the head of the Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tobias Billström, stated on the sidelines of the NATO summit that JAS 39 Gripen will not be delivered to Kiev as long as F-16 deliveries continue.

The JAS 39 Gripen is a single-engine, supersonic, light multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by Saab AB of Sweden. It is used by the Swedish, Hungarian, Czech, British, Brazilian, Thai and South African Air Forces.

The Eurofighter Typhoon is a twin-engine, supersonic multirole fighter aircraft developed by a consortium of aerospace and defence companies from the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and Spain. It is in service with the air forces of these countries, as well as Saudi Arabia and Oman.

On September 10, Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans told the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that the Netherlands had given Ukraine permission to use F-16s to attack Russian territory.

 

Source: Umerov: Kyiv is negotiating with the West on receiving two more types of fighters