Sweden is already one of the biggest military backers of Ukraine in per-capita terms, having already dispersed or allocated €5.8 billion, including €3.9 billion in military aid, and €1.6 billion in bilateral and EU financial aid, according to the German Kiel Institute. This constitutes around 1 percent of its annual GDP. By comparison, the US backing to date corresponds to 0.3 percent of the annual United States GDP.
Now Sweden has announced a further whooping €402 million in military aid.
However, there is fine print.
Exactly one-half of this amount will go to Swedish Saab to manufacture spare parts for JAS 39 Gripen — an aircraft that Ukraine does not operate.
These parts will be used to keep old Gripen fighters going, and they may — or may not — at some point in time be transferred to Ukraine. In other words, there is no guarantee that Ukraine will ever see either the parts or the planes.
However in the mean time, Sweden is already counting the €201 million it has awarded to its military-industrial complex as “aid for Ukraine”.
It would seem Stockholm is quite motivated to see Gripen advertised on Ukraine battlefields.
So far Sweden has had success in exporting the Gripen to Brazil, South Africa, Czechia, Hungary and Thailand.
That said in principle Gripen having been devised by a small nation, is a good plane for one such small nation on the back foot, but the F-16 has a much greater ecosystem behind it, with many more operators and many more built, and easier access to spares, replacements, training…
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