Putting months of speculations to rest, Colombia has announced that it will purchase the Saab Gripen fighter to replace its aging Israeli Kfir fighter jets. Interestingly, this makes Colombia the second South American country after Brazil to “shoot down” the French Rafale in favor of the Gripen.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro announced the selection of the Saab Gripen-E/F fighter jet on April 2 in a statement published on social media site X. The President said the country had signed a Letter of Intent (LoI) with the Swedish government.
“After the letter of intent signed by the government of the Kingdom of Sweden, and having approved the country’s strategic air defense as a prioritized project, I inform: The fleet of aircraft to be acquired is completely new, cutting-edge technology, already implemented in Brazil, and they are of the Saab 39 Gripen brand,” read the statement which was machine-translated to English.
The decision comes days after Colombian Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez said in an interview that the country would decide to acquire a new fighter jet “within months.” Sanchez said that the country was evaluating its options, including the US-made F-16s, the Swedish Gripen, and the French Rafales.
At the time, Sanchez did not give specific information on the number of aircraft the country was looking to purchase or the budget that had been earmarked. However, the country had indicated in 2023 that it wanted to buy about 16 fighter jets and had allotted a $3.65 billion budget for the purchase.
The Colombian Air Force currently operates less than 20 aging Israeli-origin Kfir fighter jets, which it has been looking to replace amid burgeoning security threats posed by domestic armed groups, including dissident factions of the FARC, the ELN, and gangs like the Clan del Golfo, as also highlighted by Sanchez earlier. Additionally, the country also remains embroiled in tensions with Venezuela, with which it shares an expansive border.
Soon after being elected in 2022, Colombian President Gustavo Petro focused on replacing the country’s aging air fleet with modern, advanced fighter jets.
Former Colombian Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez revealed in early 2023 that talks were initiated with Saab and Dassault in 2022 to acquire a modern, cutting-edge combat aircraft, but they eventually fell through. He did not reveal why the talks collapsed. Later, reports suggested that the United States also offered the country the F-16 Viper (Block 70/72).
Nonetheless, the final announcement comes as a big boost to the Swedish company SAAB, which has been making concerted attempts to attract buyers for the latest Gripen-E/F aircraft after losing bids to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II and the French Rafale in the export market.
The Swedish aircraft finally got a new lease of life in August 2024 when it defeated the Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 70/72 aircraft to win the Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) fighter jet contract.
Emboldened by a win in Thailand, Saab set its eyes on the Philippines. However, as recently reported by the EurAsian Times, Manila requested to buy 20 F-16 Vipers instead of Gripens. There is speculation that the country could place an additional order for Gripens later, but the government has made no such declaration.
While Colombia did not elaborate on why it was choosing the Gripen over F-16 and Rafale fighter jets, the president’s statement specifically highlighted that the country has decided to buy the Gripen, which has already been acquired by Brazil, another South American country, and the only other buyer of the Gripen-E variant.
Gripens, Not Rafles, Will Roar Over South America
Brazil became the first customer of the Gripen-E fighter in 2014 when it placed an order for 36 Gripen-E jets. It is currently looking to place an additional order for the aircraft.
The Swedish Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in November 2024 that Brazil is expected to add nine more Saab JAS 39 E/F Gripens to its 2014 order of 36 multi-role fighters. A letter of intent (LoI) to “expand their cooperation in the aerospace area” was signed by Swedish Defense Minister Pål Jonson and Brazilian Defense Minister José Múcio.
The letter revealed Sweden’s intention to buy an undisclosed number of Embraer C-390 Millennium tanker/transport aircraft and Brazil’s intention to add more Gripens to its existing fleet.
It is noteworthy that the Brazilian government did not first choose Gripen. Other aircraft in the fray included the Dassault Rafale, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, and the Eurofighter Typhoon.
The Rafale, for one, had made it to the advanced stages of the contest. However, Gripen-E’s low operating and lifespan costs and Saab’s offer of a more substantial Transfer of Technology (ToT) worked in its favor.
Saab had offered the Gripen at almost half the price of Dassault Rafale. As opposed to $4.02 billion for the Saab Gripen, Brazil reportedly had to spend about $8 billion for Dassault’s Rafale. Also, the cost per hour per flight for the Gripen is said to be $4,000, compared to the Rafale’s $14,000.
Moreover, a key consideration in awarding the contract was how much of the fighters’ technology the bidder was able and willing to share and how much would be built within its borders, as Brazil had insisted on technology transfers to enable the planes to be assembled locally and support the country’s defense industry.
Brazil’s Air Force Commander at the time, Lt. Brigadier Juniti Saito, announced that several Brazilian companies would contribute to the project while announcing the choice of Saab Gripen. Upon its completion, Brazil would have full access to the aircraft’s technology.
The Saab Aeronáutica Montagens, a new aerostructures facility in Brazil close to São Paulo, was launched in 2018 and has since been expanded. Brazil’s deal with Saab made it possible to construct Gripens. Saab and Embraer started a fighter manufacturing line at the Brazilian aircraft manufacturer’s Gaviao Peixoto plant in 2023.
Earlier, there were allegations that Brazilian President Lula da Silva had used his influence to help Saab win the contract under the government of his hand-picked successor, Dilma Rousseff. However, the Supreme Court discarded the case in 2022.
Over the years, French Dassault has been unwilling to part from technology or offer the production of the Rafale in a foreign country. This may have worked in favor of the Gripen, given its advanced features and ability to take off from anywhere and land anywhere.
Saab had earlier pitched its Gripen-E/F to two Latin American countries: Argentina and Peru. While Argentina decided to buy the decommissioned Danish F-16s, Peru confirmed last year that it is evaluating the fighter jets on offer, including Gripen.
The Gripen-E Will Bolster Colombia’s Air Power
Saab describes the Gripen-E as “Designed to defeat any adversary. Made for forward-thinking air forces, Gripen E incorporates cutting-edge technologies, the latest systems, sensors, weapons, and pods to ensure 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.”
According to Saab, the Gripen-E’s ability to launch the first missile and land the first kill will alter the nature of combat. The aircraft’s architecture is revolutionary because it can quickly incorporate new hardware and update software to meet changing mission requirements.
Moreover, the Gripen is designed for quick field deployment, especially at remote bases, and only a few people can effectively maintain it.
The fighter jet has an updated General Electric F414-GE-39E engine, more noticeable air intakes, and ten hard points on the airframe that carry weaponry, ammunition, and support equipment like flares and countermeasures, targeting pods or drop tanks.
Gripen-E can also carry several air-to-surface weapons, including unguided Mk82, Mk83, and Mk84 bombs, laser-guided bombs such as GBU-12, GBU-16, and GBU-10, and advanced bombs such as GBU-49 and GBU-39
The latest E-series fighter has a maximum payload capacity of 16,500 kilograms and a speed of Mach 2. It is equipped with a new AESA-radar, InfraRed Search and Track System (IRST), to track threats at longer ranges.
Additionally, the Gripen E has what Saab calls Human-Machine Collaboration (HMC), a combination of tactical systems and a Human-Machine Interface (HMI) that filters out all other information that is too technical or unintelligible and only provides the pilot with the pertinent information. This saves the pilot time and enables them to take nearly immediate action in an emergency.
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