Defense Minister Pål Jonsson and Civil Defense Minister Karl Oskar Bohlin are currently on an official visit to Ukraine to visit military units that are already using Swedish defense equipment. With him in his luggage, the Minister of Defense has an answer to a request from his Ukrainian colleague Oleksii Reznikov – Ukrainian fighter pilots should be allowed to practice flying the Swedish JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft.
According to Pål Jonsson, a handful of experienced people who have already received Ukrainian pilot training will be allowed to practice in simulators and test fly the JAS 39 Gripen.
– It is about orientation training, he says to TV4.
However, there are still some decisions from both countries before the training takes place, but it can be seen as a first step towards Ukraine acquiring the fighter aircraft.
Not likely that Swedish plans will be deployed
The likelihood that Swedish plans that the Swedish Armed Forces have would be used in the war in Ukraine does not seem likely today. The Minister of Defense emphasizes time and again that the six divisions that Sweden has must stay in the country.
– The planes Sweden has are needed for our own national defense, at the moment it is not relevant to lend any planes to Ukraine, he says.
The government of Ukraine has on several occasions asked for help with fighter jets from a number of countries, including Sweden. As early as last summer, the requests came, and as late as February of this year, Reznikov expressed the desire to have access to the JAS 39 Gripen.
Flying Russian fighter jets
Ukraine flies Russian fighter jets and they invest in long-term procurement of new solutions from other countries. American F16 planes are another option that was also asked for and given the opportunity to receive orientation training.
The European Tornado plane is the third option that Ukraine wants to investigate more closely, but at the top of the wish list are the American F16 planes, not least because the United States is the world’s largest armed force and a defense deal would tie Ukraine closer to the United States.
However, they are significantly more expensive than the JAS 39 Gripen – the Swedish planes are cheaper than the competition and are considered easy to learn to fly.
– This gives Ukraine a decision basis for future decisions to equip its defense. They invest in strengthening their ability in the long term, says Pål Jonsson.
The circumstances surrounding the training are kept secret
Fighter pilots are an extremely important strategic skill that takes years to train, and their identities must not be revealed either. Therefore, it is also kept secret about where, when and how the training will take place – but the government can say today that it intends to make it possible.
Should the training take place in Sweden, it is most likely that it will take place in Såtenäs, where one has experience in training foreign pilots to fly the plane.
However, there is legislation which means that Sweden may not, in principle, sell defense equipment to a warring country, but with the full-scale invasion war against Ukraine, an exception has been made.
War material already sent
Sweden has already sent everything from protective equipment to weapons and ammunition. The decision to enable Ukraine to test Swedish fighter jets is expected to draw criticism from Russia.
Inviting Ukraine to test the spearhead in the Swedish air force is a further step in marking where Sweden stands in the conflict, which the defense minister defends:
– We have taken a stand for Ukraine in this war and we see it as a threat to Sweden if Russia wins this war.