Swedish FMV and Saab sign contract for new Gripen E Equipment.

According to a press release published by Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Material Administration (FMV) regarding new equipment for Gripen E. This is a supplementary contract to the original Gripen E contract from 2013. The order value amounts to approximately SEK 1.4 billion.

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Gripen E fighter aircraft (Picture source: Saab)

The original contract, regarding the development and modification of Gripen E, signed in February 2013, was based on the terms that certain equipment from the existing Gripen C/D fleet within the Swedish Armed Forces should be reused.

Instead of reusing equipment from the Gripen C/D, new equipment is acquired for a part of the total Swedish order of 60 Gripen E aircraft.

This approach secures the availability of the Swedish Gripen C/D fleet in service, while Gripen E is being delivered and introduced to the Swedish Armed Forces.

The Gripen is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab AB.

The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with a relaxed stability design and fly-by-wire flight controls. Various versions have been built and these are grouped as A-, C- and E-series.

The Gripen is compatible with a number of different armaments, beyond the aircraft's single 27 mm Mauser BK-27 cannon (omitted on the two-seat variants), including air-to-air missiles such as the AIM-9 Sidewinder, air-to-ground missiles such as the AGM-65 Maverick, and anti-ship missiles such as the RBS-15.