Thai Air Force Confirms Plans to Purchase Swedish Fighters: Gripen E/F Has Failed to Gain Export Orders For Over 10 Years

<p >The Royal Thai Air Force has confirmed that a decision has been finalised to procure Swedish Gripen E/F fighters, which are expected to supplement older Gripen C/D and F-5TH fighters in the service’s fleet. Although no contract has yet been signed, the framework for negotiations with the manufacturer Saab, and with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration have been set. Saab also requires permission from the United States to export the fighters, due to their use of American F414 engines and other key subsystems. Commenting on the decision to procure the aircraft, Saab President and CEO Micael Johansson stated: “We welcome the Royal Thai Air Force’s selection of Gripen E/F as its future fighter and look forward to the next steps in this procurement process. Gripen E/F is the best solution to provide Thailand with independent airpower for the future which will contribute significantly to the nation’s safety and security.” The firm is proposing a long-term offset package which it asserts can strengthen Thailand’s national security and strategic autonomy, while supporting job creation and investment across multiple sectors of Thai industry. Procurement under such a package is expected to be considerably more costly, however. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_68413a61f25cf8_65040574.jpg" title="Gripen E Equipped For Air-to-Air Combat "></p><p >Reports that a decision had been made to procure the Gripen E/F<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/frustrated-swedish-gripen-thai-orders" > first emerged</a> in August 2024, but were not previously confirmed. Thai orders for the fighter would provide much needed relief for Saab and the Swedish aviation sector more broadly, which have struggled to gain clients for the Gripen. The fighter has consistently lost all tenders it had participated in over the past decade, including <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/f35-europe-clients-production-dominance-market" target="_blank">several losses</a> to the F-35 across Europe and in Canada. Johansson previously<a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/ceo-of-sweden-s-saab-admits-extreme-frustration-as-clients-don-t-want-gripen-fighters-no-sales-for-over-eight-years" > informed reporters </a>of his “extreme frustration” at the years long lack of export successes for the Gripen, stating that the fighter was not meeting export expectations, blaming political factors, and asserting that the aircraft’s performance attributes were not to blame. </p><p >The Gripen has seen no export contracts signed for its procurement since a $5.44 billion contract for 36 fighters was signed in 2014 to equip the Brazilian Air Force. The lack of orders has forced the Swedish Defence Ministry to make larger procurements than planned to prevent the closure of production lines. Despite wide ranging performance limitations, a major attraction of the Gripen is that it has by far the lowest lifetime costs of any fighter in the Western world. This is largely due to the fact that it falls under a ‘very light’ weight range below that of regular light fighters such as the F-16 and J-10C, and comparable to the Chinese JF-17 or the South Korean FA-50. The fighter’s particularly small size nevertheless limits it to carrying a very small radar and low weapons payload, which are leading shortcomings of the design. </p><p ><img src="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/m/articles/2025/06/05/article_68413ac81b1050_01478828.webp" title="Royal Thai Air Force Gripen C/D Fighters"></p><p >A key factor influencing the Royal Thai Air Force’s decision to select the Gripen E/F is thought to be the aircraft’s high levels of commonality with the service’s existing fleet of 11 Gripen C/D fighters, which were ordered 2008 and 2010 in two batches. The Gripen E/F’s new American F414 engines are closely related to the F404 engines powering older Gripen variants, and have significant commonality in their maintenance requirements. Aside from the new engine, the new Gripen variant’s primary improvements are in its avionics suite, which have been brought up to a fifth generation level. They include the Raven ES-05 active electronically scanned array radar, which represents a major improvement over the Gripen C/D’s obsolete PS-05A mechanically scanned array radar. The fighter is also now compatible with the <a href="https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/meteor-first-test-flight-f35-what-capabilities" target="_blank">Meteor long range air-to-air missile</a>, which has the potential to revolutionise its air-to-air performance should orders be placed and export approval be granted. The Meteor has a comparable performance the Chinese PL-15, which has often equipped fighters such as the J-10C deployed to Thailand for exercises. Unlike the Navy and Army, the Royal Thai Air Force is the only service in the country’s armed forces which has not taken steps to reduce its reliance on Western equipment and increase procurements from China. Political pressure on the country has widely been highlighted by local analysts as a leading factor influencing this, despite the growing popularity of Chinese fighters elsewhere in the world.</p>