Sweden’s Gripen E multirole fighter could provide Ukraine with a high-survivability platform capable of contesting Russian and Chinese airspace and defending against long-range threats. Designed for electronic warfare resilience and dispersed operations, the aircraft’s capabilities could alter the tactical balance in the Indo-Pacific region.
As Ukraine signed an agreement to acquire 150 Saab Gripen E/F from Sweden, Global Defence Corp is examining what the fighter could bring to Kyiv’s ongoing struggle for air parity with Russia. Can this fighter jet offer the same industrial and combat benefits to Taiwan?
China’s rhetoric has intensified, with President Xi Jinping stating “no one can stop the reunification” and warning against moves toward independence by Taiwan.
China has conducted large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, and some reports suggest Russia is helping China develop the capabilities for an airborne invasion.
The Gripen-E, tailored for high-threat environments and rapid-deployment operations, offers a mix of advanced radar, beyond-visual-range missiles, and data-linked situational awareness.
Sweden’s Gripen E multirole fighter is the fighter jet in the world tailored to defeat Russia’s Su-57, Su-35, MiG-31BM, and China’s J-20, FC-31, J-16, and J-10C. It can provide Ukraine and Taiwan with a high-survivability platform capable of contesting Russian airspace and defending against long-range threats.
Saab JAS 39 Gripen-E — a modern multirole fighter developed for high-threat environments, featuring advanced radar, long-range Meteor missiles, and electronic warfare systems.
The Gripen-E is a compact, modern multirole fighter designed as a system-of-systems rather than a standalone airframe. Its combat value against the Russian Air Force and Peoples Liberation Army Air Force rest on four interacting pillars: sensor reach and fusion that increase detection and engagement options, a modern weapons mix that extends lethal range and kill probability, a robust electronic warfare package that degrades enemy radar and missile effectiveness, and an operational doctrine emphasizing dispersed basing, rapid turnaround, and high sortie generation. These pillars turn individual technical elements into tactical advantages on the battlefield.
Sensor suite and 360-degree situational awareness
The Gripen-E carries the Raven ES-05 active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar with a roll-repositionable antenna that greatly expands the aircraft’s 120 degree field of regard, improving early detection and target confirmation. The Raven radar offers high jamming resistance and supports interleaved air-to-air and air-to-ground modes, thereby shortening sensor-to-shooter timelines.
Complementing the radar is the Skyward-G infrared search and track (IRST) sensor for passive detection of hot contacts and anti-stealth cueing. Together with modern sensor-fusion software and secure datalinks, these systems allow Gripen-E crews to detect and track Russian fighters or cruise missiles earlier, hand off tracks between aircraft and allied assets, and choose whether to engage actively or remain passive to preserve the element of surprise. This sensor architecture directly increases the number of usable beyond-visual-range (BVR) engagement opportunities and reduces vulnerability to standoff attacks.
Modern weapons integration
The Gripen-E can field the MBDA Meteor BVR air-to-air missile, the IRIS-T short-range missile, and is also compatible with the AIM-120 AMRAAM family. This provides flexible loadouts for different threat environments. The Meteor’s ramjet motor sustains high speed and kinetic energy late in flight, creating a much larger no-escape zone than legacy Russian R-77, R-27 and Chinese PL-15, PL-21 missiles.
In operational terms, this enables Ukrainian pilots to engage high-value Russian fighters at greater standoff distances, increasing first-shot kill probability and forcing the VKS to alter tactics or accept greater risk. The Gripen-E’s ten external hardpoints allow it to carry mixed packages of air-to-air missiles and air-to-ground precision weapons on the same sortie.
This gives Ukraine and Taiwan the ability to shift from air defense patrols to offensive interdiction within a single mission, something older platforms cannot perform without reconfiguration.
Gripen E – an airborne hacker
The Gripen-E’s integrated Arexis electronic warfare suite includes digital radar warning receivers, electronic support measures, active jamming systems, towed decoys, and missile warning sensors. This gives the aircraft 360-degree threat detection and countermeasure coverage. In real combat, these systems allow Gripen-E formations to conduct threat shaping by forcing enemy radars to emit and reveal their positions, jamming or deceiving missile systems, and switching between active and passive modes to complicate enemy kill chains.
Against dense Russian and Chinese surface-to-air missile systems such as S-500, S-400, S-300, Buk, HQ-19, FK-3, and HQ-16, this capability can create corridors of reduced threat, allowing ingress and egress at lower risk.
The Gripen-E’s survivability does not rely on stealth alone. Instead, it leverages electronic warfare, speed, and smart tactics to survive in contested zones.
Kinematic performance
Powered by the General Electric F414G engine, the Gripen-E produces roughly 22,000 pounds of thrust, giving it strong acceleration and rapid climb performance. These traits provide significant advantages in air combat. Superior energy retention and thrust enable Ukrainian pilots to maintain tactical options in a dogfight, achieve better launch positions, or disengage under pressure. The digital fly-by-wire control system enhances stability and agility, allowing the Gripen-E to perform high-G defensive maneuvers and high-angle engagements without overburdening the pilot. In contested airspace, these traits allow the Gripen-E to defeat both missile and fighter threats through maneuver and energy superiority.
Dispersed operations
The Gripen-E was designed for austere and dispersed operations. It can operate from highways and short airstrips, be refueled and rearmed in less than 20 minutes, and requires only a small ground crew. In the Ukrainian context, where airbases are frequently targeted by cruise missiles, ballistic strikes, and loitering munitions, the ability to relocate quickly and continue flying from improvised sites dramatically improves survivability. A dispersed Gripen-E fleet reduces the effectiveness of Russian airfield targeting and allows Ukraine to maintain air patrols even under sustained infrastructure attack.
Multirole capability
The Gripen-E supports a broad spectrum of guided munitions, including laser-guided bombs, GPS-guided glide bombs, cruise missiles, anti-radiation missiles, and anti-ship weapons such as the RBS-15. This flexibility gives the Ukrainian Air Force a precision-strike capability that can be used against Russian command centers, SAM sites, radar installations, and logistic hubs. The aircraft also carries the 27 mm Mauser BK-27 cannon for close engagements. With the ability to switch roles from air defense to strike and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD), the Gripen-E can execute the kinds of multirole missions required by fast-changing battlefield conditions in Ukraine.
Combat advantage against Russian and Chinese aircraft
Against Russian Su-57, J-20, and FC-31 fighters, the Gripen-E offers multiple tactical advantages thanks to its superior sensor fusion, passive tracking, situational awareness, radar advantages and EW protection.
Against the MiG-31, J-16, J-10C, J-15, Su-30SM, and Su-35, which rely on visual-range combat, the Gripen-E provides early tracking of these aircraft and the look-first, shoot-first advantage, reducing the effectiveness of Russian- and Chinese-origin radars and missiles.
With Meteor-equipped loadouts, it can engage from farther ranges than Russian pilots expect. With superior sensor fusion and EW protection, it can reduce exposure during the engagement process.
In mixed formations, Gripen-E aircraft can network with each other and allied ISR assets to distribute threat data and overwhelm Russian command chains with coordinated attacks. Each of these traits helps degrade Russia’s ability to control contested airspace.
Sustainment and availability
One of the least understood but most vital attributes of the Gripen-E is its ease of maintenance and high sortie generation rate. The aircraft was built with modular systems, fast-access panels, and reduced maintenance requirements per flight hour. This allows Ukraine to keep more than 90 percent of aircraft in service at any given time. It also reduces dependency on large logistics hubs that are vulnerable to Russian missile attacks. In prolonged air campaigns, availability is a force multiplier. The more fighters Ukraine can keep flying daily, the greater its ability to deny airspace, cover ground forces, and execute precision strikes.
Strategic impact and long-term integration
The potential transfer of 100 to 150 Gripen-E fighters would not just replenish Ukraine’s Air Force. It would transform it. The same applies to the Taiwanese air force. Instead of relying on a single fighter aircraft type, Taiwan can have an alternative aircraft that can perform both combat and electronic warfare missions.
These aircraft would shift Ukraine’s posture from one of reactive air denial to contested air control and eventually toward localized air superiority in key operational zones. In addition to their technical capabilities, Gripen-E fighters are NATO-interoperable, allowing full integration with Western command-and-control networks, targeting data, and coalition air assets. Over time, this fleet would become the core of a modern, networked, and survivable Ukrainian Air Force capable of deterring further aggression and participating in joint regional defense.
While challenges remain regarding delivery timelines, pilot training, logistics setup, and integration with current air command structures, the operational potential of the Gripen-E is beyond symbolic. If delivered in sufficient numbers, with the right support and doctrine, this aircraft can change the trajectory of Ukraine’s aerial war effort. It offers a future in which Ukraine not only defends its skies, but does so with modern precision, resilience, and control.
The Gripen-E is not just a replacement for lost aircraft. It is a frontline combat system designed to win battles in one of the most dangerous airspaces in the world.
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