Ukraine will receive its first Swedish Gripen fighters together with long-range Meteor air-to-air missiles, Deputy Head of the President's Office Pavlo Palisa said. The combination, Palisa argued, will let Ukraine push back the Russian aircraft that launch guided glide bombs (KABs) at Ukrainian positions from just behind the front line.
Russian fighter-bombers carrying KABs have battered Ukrainian forward positions throughout the war, typically launching from inside Russian airspace beyond the reach of Ukrainian air defense. Currently, Ukraine does not have a systematic weapon to counter them.
"Gripen with Meteor missiles on board will be the 'long arm' of our aviation," he stated.
He described the pairing as the most important element of the new capability and a step toward a "qualitatively new architecture" of Ukrainian defense.
"Long arm" against Russian glide-bomb aircraft
The Meteor's beyond-visual-range capability, considered one of the most advanced air-to-air systems in service, would let Ukrainian Gripen pilots threaten those launch aircraft from far greater distances than current Ukrainian options, ArmyInform explained in a recent feature on the system.
Built for the war Ukraine is fighting
The Gripen was designed for warfare in which aircraft must operate quickly and flexibly from different airfields, in a saturated air-defense environment and under constant enemy pressure, Palisa noted — a combat model that closely matches Ukraine's current reality.
The fighters expand Kyiv's options against Russian aviation, missiles, drones, and strike systems, and bring closer the layered air-defense architecture Ukraine aims to build.
Sweden's consistent strategic position
"Swedish support for Ukraine is a consistent strategic position of a state that understands the nature of the Russian threat well," Palisa wrote.
He added that Gripen for Ukraine is a contribution to the security of all of Europe, not only to Ukrainian security.
The first Gripen jets fall within a package Stockholm finalized this week that includes 16 donated Gripen C/D jets plus up to 20 newer Gripen E/F that Ukraine will buy with €2.5 billion from an EU loan, according to Euromaidan Press.
