Thai Air Force Confirms Plans to Purchase Swedish Fighters: Gripen E/F Has Failed to Gain Export Orders For Over 10 Years

<p >The Royal Thai Air Power has confirmed {that a} determination has been finalised to acquire Swedish Gripen E/F fighters, that are anticipated to complement older Gripen C/D and F-5TH fighters within the service’s fleet. Though no contract has but been signed, the framework for negotiations with the producer Saab, and with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration have been set. Saab additionally requires permission from the USA to export the fighters, as a consequence of their use of American F414 engines and different key subsystems. Commenting on the choice to acquire the plane, Saab President and CEO Micael Johansson acknowledged: “We welcome the Royal Thai Air Power’s choice of Gripen E/F as its future fighter and sit up for the subsequent steps on this procurement course of. Gripen E/F is the very best resolution to offer Thailand with impartial airpower for the longer term which can contribute considerably to the nation’s security and safety.” The agency is proposing a long-term offset bundle which it asserts can strengthen Thailand’s nationwide safety and strategic autonomy, whereas supporting job creation and funding throughout a number of sectors of Thai business. Procurement underneath such a bundle is predicted to be significantly extra pricey, nonetheless. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_68413a61f25cf8_65040574.jpg" title="Gripen E Outfitted For Air-to-Air Fight "></p><p >Stories {that a} determination had been made to acquire the Gripen E/F<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/frustrated-swedish-gripen-thai-orders" > first emerged</a> in August 2024, however weren’t beforehand confirmed. Thai orders for the fighter would supply a lot wanted reduction for Saab and the Swedish aviation sector extra broadly, which have struggled to realize shoppers for the Gripen. The fighter has persistently misplaced all tenders it had participated in over the previous decade, together with <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-europe-clients-production-dominance-market" goal="_blank">a number of losses</a> to the F-35 throughout Europe and in Canada. Johansson beforehand<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ceo-of-sweden-s-saab-admits-extreme-frustration-as-clients-don-t-want-gripen-fighters-no-sales-for-over-eight-years" > knowledgeable reporters </a>of his “excessive frustration” on the years lengthy lack of export successes for the Gripen, stating that the fighter was not assembly export expectations, blaming political components, and asserting that the plane’s efficiency attributes have been to not blame. </p><p >The Gripen has seen no export contracts signed for its procurement since a $5.44 billion contract for 36 fighters was signed in 2014 to equip the Brazilian Air Power. The dearth of orders has pressured the Swedish Defence Ministry to make bigger procurements than deliberate to forestall the closure of manufacturing strains. Regardless of large ranging efficiency limitations, a serious attraction of the Gripen is that it has by far the bottom lifetime prices of any fighter within the Western world. That is largely as a consequence of the truth that it falls underneath a ‘very mild’ weight vary under that of standard mild fighters such because the F-16 and J-10C, and akin to the Chinese language JF-17 or the South Korean FA-50. The fighter’s significantly small dimension nonetheless limits it to carrying a really small radar and low weapons payload, that are main shortcomings of the design. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_68413ac81b1050_01478828.webp" title="Royal Thai Air Power Gripen C/D Fighters"></p><p >A key issue influencing the Royal Thai Air Power’s determination to pick the Gripen E/F is considered the plane’s excessive ranges of commonality with the service’s present fleet of 11 Gripen C/D fighters, which have been ordered 2008 and 2010 in two batches. The Gripen E/F’s new American F414 engines are carefully associated to the F404 engines powering older Gripen variants, and have vital commonality of their upkeep necessities. Other than the brand new engine, the brand new Gripen variant’s major enhancements are in its avionics suite, which have been introduced as much as a fifth era degree. They embrace the Raven ES-05 energetic electronically scanned array radar, which represents a serious enchancment over the Gripen C/D’s out of date PS-05A mechanically scanned array radar. The fighter can also be now appropriate with the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/meteor-first-test-flight-f35-what-capabilities" goal="_blank">Meteor lengthy vary air-to-air missile</a>, which has the potential to revolutionise its air-to-air efficiency ought to orders be positioned and export approval be granted. The Meteor has a comparable efficiency the Chinese language PL-15, which has typically outfitted fighters such because the J-10C deployed to Thailand for workout routines. Not like the Navy and Military, the Royal Thai Air Power is the one service within the nation’s armed forces which has not taken steps to scale back its reliance on Western tools and enhance procurements from China. Political stress on the nation has extensively been highlighted by native analysts as a number one issue influencing this, regardless of the rising reputation of Chinese language fighters elsewhere on this planet.</p>



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