Saab has received an order from the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk or FMV) on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces to provide support and maintenance services for Saab JAS 39 Gripen from 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021. The order is a nine-month extension of a contract signed with FMV late May 2017, regarding performance-based support and maintenance of Gripen and cover the period 1 July 2020 to 31 March 2021. The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab.
The order includes support and maintenance services essential to aviation operations with Gripen. The order covers, for example, design and support, component maintenance, the provision of logistics, technical system support, publications, spare parts, repairs, ground support equipment and pilot equipment. Work will be carried out at Saab’s facilities in Linköping, Arboga, Järfälla, Gothenburg and Östersund. The total order value amounts to MSEK 687.
The Swedish Air Force placed a total order for 204 Gripens in three batches. The first delivery occurred on 8 June 1993, when 39102 was handed over to the Flygvapnet during a ceremony at Linköping; the last was handed over on 13 December 1996. The air force received its first Batch II example on 19 December 1996. Instead of the fixed-price agreement of Batch I, Batch II aircraft were paid as a “target price” concept: any cost underruns or overruns would be split between FMV and Saab.
The JAS 39 entered service with the Skaraborg Air Force Wing (F 7) on 1 November 1997. The final Batch three aircraft was delivered to FMV on 26 November 2008. This was accomplished at 10% less than the agreed-upon price for the batch, putting the JAS 39C flyaway cost at under US$30 million. This batch of Gripens was equipped for in-flight refuelling from specially equipped TP84s. In 2007, a programme was started to upgrade 31 of the air force’s JAS 39A/B fighters to JAS 39C/Ds. In March 2015, the Swedish Air Force received its final JAS 39C.
