Last week, when Russian forces had just fired, for the first time, an intermediate-range ballistic missile of the 9M729 Oreshnik type [dérivé du RS-26 Rubezh, selon les évaluations américaines] against the Pivdenmach aerospace company established in Dnipro, the head of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin estimated that the war in Ukraine now had “global characteristics”, before assuring that Moscow “will react resolutely to this escalation”, in reference to the authorization given to kyiv by Washington and London to use long-range ATACMS and Storm Shadows weapons against military targets in Russia.
The Russian president’s remarks were received calmly in Sweden. At least, that’s what the reaction expressed by Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson suggests while welcoming Rousten Oumierov, his Ukrainian counterpart, to Stockholm on November 22.
“The recent Russian escalation and provocation is an attempt to scare us into not supporting Ukraine, and it will fail. Russia will not be able to prevent us from continuing to support Ukraine,” declared Mr. Jonson. Supporting Ukraine “is an investment in our own security, because your security is also ours,” he added, addressing Mr. Oumierov.
Recalling that Ukraine has the right “to defend itself inside and outside its territory”, the Swedish minister assured that his country was ready to finance “substantially” the purchase of missiles and drones from long range for the benefit of the Ukrainian armed forces. This will be the subject of an 18th tranche of aid, the content of which will be specified next January.
The previous aid “package” was announced by Stockholm last September. In the amount of 4.6 billion Swedish crowns [soit environ 400 millions d’euros]it provided for the delivery of six CB-90 fast attack ships, AT4 rocket launchers, different types of ammunition and, above all, spare parts for JAS-39 Gripen C/D combat aircraft.
“At the moment, it is not relevant to transfer the JAS-39 Gripen to Ukraine as this would hinder the entry into service of the F-16 [promis à Kiev par les Pays-Bas, la Norvège, le Danemark et la Belgique, ndlr]. However, the government continues to work on creating the necessary conditions to possibly support Ukraine with this type of aircraft in the future,” the Swedish Ministry of Defense explained at the time.
In August 2023, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky discussed discussions on the possible transfer of Gripen C/D combat aircraft to kyiv. Then, priority having been given to the delivery of F-16s, Stockholm suspended this project.
“The simultaneous introduction of two air combat systems is very complex and it is now appropriate to concentrate on the entry into service of the F-16 within the Ukrainian air force,” explained Mr. Jonson in May last. Also, Sweden remained in the transfer to kyiv of the last two airborne command and early detection aircraft Saab 340 AW&C still in service within its air force [Svenska flygvapnet].
The announcement made by France regarding the upcoming transfer of Mirage 2000-5F to Ukraine [au moins six exemplaires, ndlr] undoubtedly led Stockholm to prepare the ground for the subsequent donation of Gripen C/D. Until now, the Swedish authorities had not specified the number of planes they intended to transfer. It is now a thing to do.
Indeed, during the press conference he gave alongside Mr. Oumierov, the Swedish minister revealed that spare parts for fourteen Gripens had been delivered to Ukraine. “Gripens were part of our discussions today [22/11] “, he added.
However, Sweden does not have all the latitude it would like to move this issue forward. The delivery of Gripen “does not depend on us, but on export licenses and other partners […] who are waiting to have made progress with the F-16s before considering the donation of Gripen,” explained Pål Jonson.
As a reminder, relatively little dependent on an air base thanks to simplified maintenance as much as possible, the JAS-39 Gripen is considered to be the ideal fighter-bomber for the Ukrainian air forces, especially since it has a suite high-performance electronic warfare and is capable of carrying very long-range Meteor air-to-air missiles.
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