Czech Gripen lease extension to 2035, until the F-35 arrives

Czech Republic is seeking to extend the lease of its JAS-39 Gripen fighter fleet until 2035, as it fears Lockheed Martin may not be able to deliver the F-35s in time.

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Since July 2022, the Czech Ministry of Defense has been negotiating with the U.S. for the purchase of 24 Lockheed Martin F-35A 5th generation fighter-bombers, but according to the Novinky portal, they also recently started negotiations with Sweden to extend the lease of the 14 Gripens currently operated by the Czech Air Force, as it is believed that the American fighters would not arrive before 2029, when the contract currently in force ends (if the two-year extension option is executed).

The Czech Ministry of Defense would be taking this foresight so as not to fall into the same situation as its Slovakian neighbors, which ordered 14 F-16 Block 70 fighters in 2018 and were due to start to the country this year, but due to delays due to the lack of microchips and the number of orders for the model, deliveries will be delayed by at least a year, possibly more. As its MiG-29 fighter squadron left service in August (and will possibly end up in Ukraine), the Slovak MoD had to negotiate with Poland and the Czech Republic for its fighters to patrol their airspace.

Gripen for free… but

Seeing that the government in Prague showed a clear predilection for the acquisition of two squadrons of American F-35 fighter jets, in June 2022, the Swedish ambassador to the Czech Republic, Fredrik Jörgensen, approached an offer of close to zero cost. During an interview, he said that Czechia can keep the Gripens it leased from Sweden for free:

«It is possible to transfer these now-leased aircraft to the Czech Republic at virtually zero cost. They have basically paid for them, it’s like leasing a car. Basically, we would consider them paid for and, on this basis, we could expand the cooperation system with the Gripen C-series or further with the Gripen E-series.»

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The generous Swedish offer was tied to the Czech Republic acquiring the Gripen E. The 14 Gripen C/D, currently leased, would be transferred free of charge (or at a merely symbolic price) to the Czech Air Force and modernized, provided they bought a second squadron of the E model. In this way the Czech Republic could double its air power, at a quite affordable cost, and Saab would avoid losing another customer to Lockheed Martin.

However, there is no doubt in the Czech Ministry of Defense about what they want their next fighter aircraft to be, and the conditions under which the Gripens lease extension is negotiated with Stockholm are unlikely to include the word «free».