Sweden will suspend the plan to deliver Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine in order to enable the deployment of US F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine, the Swedish Defense Minister told the TT news agency on Tuesday in Brussels.
Ukraine began talks with Sweden last year about the possibility of receiving Gripen fighter jets, and the Scandinavian country later said it was studying the possibility of supplying aircraft manufactured by Swedish defense company Saab.
“The rest of the coalition countries urged us to be patient with the Gripen system.” Pal Johnson told the Swedish news service TT.
Johnson was referring to countries that plan to donate American-made F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.
Belgium is providing thirty F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, and the first aircraft could arrive by the end of the year
Belgium has signed a long-term security agreement with Ukraine.
The minister explained that the Swedish move “is linked to the fact that (the allies) are now focusing on introducing the F-16 system.”
Featured image: Swedish Defense Minister Pall Jonsson (left) and Austrian Colonel Robert Praeger, head of the EU Military Committee, at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels on May 23, 2023. (MTI/EPA/Olivier Husslet)
