The record What this system is, where it comes from, who operates it and which of Vigil’s modules it is relevant to — with the evidence each of those rests on.
Record
Conflict relevance
This is the catalogue's single record for this system. It is relevant to the modules below; each module's Force Atlas shows how it is used there.
Operators
Sweden and the eastern flank: The Swedish Air Force's only fighter, with the Gripen E entering service from 2023 beside the C/D and the government's 2025 decision to keep the C/D fleet longer. Sweden's first NATO air-policing contribution was flown with the type in 2025. No holdings recorded. · Czechia and the eastern flank: Fourteen aircraft leased from Sweden since 2005; in June 2025 the ministry accepted a renewed lease to 2035, bridging to the F-35. Programme facts only. · Hungary and the eastern flank: Fourteen aircraft leased since 2006 and, under the 2024 agreement with Sweden, passing into Hungarian ownership with four additional aircraft. Hungary's Baltic air-policing rotations are flown with the type. Programme facts only. · Ukraine: A letter of intent signed at Linköping in October 2025 under which Ukraine intends to acquire an initial batch of up to 20 Gripen E/F and Sweden intends to donate up to 16 Gripen C/D; no contract, delivery or fielding is established as of September 2026. Pledged, not fielded.
Battlefield role
Air defence and multirole strike from dispersed bases: a fighter built around the Swedish doctrine of scattering aircraft to road strips and turning them around with small conscript crews, which is the capability the flank's air forces are now studying for their own airfields.
Strengths
Designed for dispersal — short take-off from roads, refuelling and rearming by a handful of ground crew in minutes — and cheap to fly by fighter standards; a European supply chain, and the lease model that let Czechia and Hungary field a modern fighter without buying one.
Limitations
A small production base and a small operator community, which is why the Czech lease extension was negotiated as a bridge rather than a destination; the Gripen E's sensors and weapons are modern but the aircraft is not low-observable. The Ukrainian acquisition is an intention, not a delivery. No holdings or basing are recorded.
Visual identification
A small single-engine canard-delta with a single fin: close-coupled foreplanes just behind the cockpit, a delta wing and side intakes. Smaller than the Typhoon, with which it shares the canard layout.
Documented conflict use
NATO EASTERN FLANK. Hungarian Gripens have flown Baltic air-policing rotations since 2015, Czech Gripens since 2009, and Sweden flew its first NATO air-policing contribution from Poland in 2025. The lease decisions of June 2025 (Czechia) and 2024 (Hungary) are the programme facts the module tracks. No holdings or basing are stated. UKRAINE–RUSSIA. Pledged only: the October 2025 letter of intent is the whole of the public record, and the module records it under Ukraine's fighter transition as an intention beside the delivered F-16 and Mirage fleets.
Branch & service operators
- Swedish Air Force Documented
Documented formations
- Air Forces Command Documented · high confidence
- MH Összhaderőnemi Műveleti Parancsnokság Documented · high confidence
Assessed as of — 2025-10 Last reviewed — 2026-09-28