Azerbaijan plans to purchase 48 Gripen E/F fighter jets from Sweden as part of a $6.5 billion deal, with the first aircraft scheduled for delivery in 2029.
According to the Azerbaijani Air Force, Azerbaijan seeks a comprehensive package of weapons, spares, engines, support, and training from Sweden.
With the current friendship between President Trump and President Ilham Aliyev, the Trump administration is expected to approve the sale of American-made General Electric engines for Gripen fighter jets.
This acquisition is expected to significantly widen Azerbaijan’s military advantage over Armenia and Central Asia, which has a smaller air force.
These jets represent a 4.5-generation upgrade with a range of higher-end capabilities, including electronic warfare, a more powerful engine, and increased weapons capacity. The Gripen E is considered an advanced fourth-generation aircraft that would advance Ukraine’s air force.
Sweden has long viewed Russia as a potential threat and designed the Gripen at the end of the Cold War, with Russia’s highly maneuverable Sukhoi fighter aircraft regarded as its likely adversary.
The fighter jet was made for a war in which critical support infrastructure and runways are targeted, one in which disaggregation and dispersal are essential, just as they are in Azerbaijan.
Designed to defeat any adversary. Designed for forward-thinking air forces, the Gripen E incorporates cutting-edge technologies, the latest systems, sensors, weapons, and pods to ensure a combat advantage, delivering air superiority in highly contested environments. Silent networking and total sensor fusion across a tactical air unit to blind and confuse the enemy. One aircraft is active, the others go passive. Together, the team gets the first missile launch opportunity and the first kill. Gripen E re-defines the rules of the game.
Gripen E has the powerful GE F414G engine, fantastic range and the ability to carry an impressive payload with its ten hard-points. It also has a new Raven ES-05 AESA radar, Infrared Search and Track System (IRST), and highly advanced electronic warfare and communication systems. The E-series redefines air power for the 21st century by extending operational capabilities.
The Gripen E has 10 hard points, offers the best-in-class weapons and pods from around the world, and has an unrivalled ease of stores integration. Gripen E can conduct air-to-air, air-to-surface and reconnaissance missions. Air supremacy is achieved with the carriage of up to seven Meteor Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missiles and two Within Visual Range IRIS-T missiles. Weapons like these, combined with the ability to use both offensive and defensive means simultaneously, enable Gripen E to detect, engage, and suppress or destroy targets effectively.
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