Brazil's Air Force Chief Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior has announced that he wants to see another 30 JAS Gripen aircraft purchased in addition to the current order of 36 fighter jets from Saab.
According to the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter, the Brazilian Air Force has come to the conclusion that a total of 66 fighter jets would be ideal for the world's fifth largest country. However, the discussion is still ongoing, Carlos de Almeida Baptista Junior warned.
Still, the announcement was well-received in Sweden.
“We are of course positive about Brazil's interest in continuing to buy Gripens. Brazil has previously said that it is interested in buying 30 more planes, so this does not change anything in substance. At the same time, this consolidates their great interest”, Saab's press manager Mattias Rådström told the newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
Following the news, Saab's shares rose by 3.8 percent on the Stockholm Stock Exchange, national broadcaster SVT reported.
When Brazil bought 36 Gripens in 2014, it was celebrated as the largest deal in the history of Swedish industry, estimated to be worth almost SEK 40 billion ($4.3 billion). If the Brazilian Air Force buys 30 more planes, it will mean yet another huge order for Saab.
Brazil is currently in the process of upgrading its Air Force. The first Gripen jet arrived in Brazil in 2020 and over the next six months, four more fighter jets will be delivered. The Gripen jets sold to Brazil are manufactured together with Brazilian Embraer, which sent Brazilian engineers to Sweden to learn how to assemble the plane. Together, Saab and Embraer are developing joint-technology for the plane's construction.
The Saab JAS 39 Gripen is a light single-engine multi-role fighter aircraft with a delta wing and canard configuration.
Headquartered in Stockholm, Saab is a pillar of Sweden's defence industry and is present in the list of the world's largest arms exporters by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Over the course of 2021, Saab was pinning its hopes on Finland to pick the Gripen as replacement for its ageing fleet of F/A-18 Hornets, but suffered a setback as Helsinki chose to follow its Nordic peers Denmark and Norway in settling for F-35 warplanes due to its capability and lifespan.