Ukraine expects to receive Swedish Gripen fighter jets, Deputy Defense Minister Lieutenant General Ivan Havryliuk told the Ukrainian service of BBC News.

“We are expecting” additional deliveries of American F-16s, French Mirages, and Swedish Gripens, Havryliuk said. Ukraine has already received the first two aircraft types from partners, but not the Gripens yet.

When a journalist asked whether Ukraine expects all three aircraft models or just one of them, Havryliuk responded: “You’ve basically named the nomenclature correctly [Mirage, Gripen, F-16], but I won’t go into detail about when, what, which.”

Asked about the number of fighter jets Ukraine expects, the deputy defense minister said: “Let’s say when you see them in the sky over Ukraine, then you’ll understand.”

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a Swedish fourth-generation multirole fighter developed in the late 1980s and commissioned in 1996. The aircraft has a maximum payload of 7.2 tons and 10 hardpoints for weapons. Its combat radius reaches up to 1,500 kilometers.

The Gripen holds the title of the most economical 4+ generation fighter. The price of one aircraft ranges from $30-60 million depending on configuration and delivery terms.

In July 2024, Sweden’s foreign minister said the country was ready to transfer Gripen fighters to Ukraine, but Kyiv declined, deciding that operating two fighter systems simultaneously—F-16s and Gripens—would be too much.

In September of that year, then-Defense Minister Umerov said that Ukraine expected to receive not only F-16s and Mirage-2000s from Western allies, but also Gripens and Eurofighters.

In September 2025, Sweden’s defense minister said that following interest from Ukraine, the country is open to selling Gripens, but after the war ends, BBC News reports.