Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M) says that there is no surplus of Jas Gripen – especially since Russia’s air forces are “almost intact”.
– We do not have any plans to spare, says Jonson at Tuesday’s ministerial meeting in Brussels.
The discussion about fighter jets to Ukraine is in full swing. In Poland, they have started training Ukrainian soldiers on the F-16 plane, and in the United States they are talking about doing the same thing.
Both the EU’s foreign affairs chief, Joseph Borell, and NATO’s general secretary, Jens Stoltenberg, view those plans positively.
Naval and air defenses are needed
But from the Swedish defense side, it is not the same tone.
– We have no surplus of Gripen planes. It also has to do with the fact that Russia is now severely weakened when it comes to ground forces, but when it comes to naval forces and air forces, they are mostly intact. So we don’t have any plans to spare, says Pål Jonson.
Commander-in-Chief Micael Bydén said the other day that there is a risk in reserving equipment for Ukraine and that one must take into account that it is difficult to equip the Swedish defense in a short time while simultaneously providing equipment and training soldiers in Ukraine.
Nor education currently
In the end, it is a political decision, and Pål Jonson also does not seem positive about providing resources to train Ukrainian fighter pilots.
– The basis should be that you should train on the platform that you will then operate on, says Jonson.
However, the Minister of Defense sees no principled obstacles to providing combat vehicles of various types to Ukraine.
– We have no principled objections to Ukraine getting access to combat aircraft. It is natural.