Saab inked a contract with the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) covering an order for four more single-seat JAS 39C Gripen multi-role fighters for the Hungarian Air Force (HuAF) on February 23.
This latest order is an amendment to the contract that was initially signed by the Hungarian government and FMV in December 2001 and covered the lease of 12 single-seat JAS 39Cs and two dual-seat JAS 39Ds to the HuAF from Saab. Deliveries of the 14 initially leased JAS 39C/Ds began in March 2006 and concluded in December 2007. With this new amendment, the HuAF will eventually operate an 18-strong Gripen fleet.
In 2016, Hungary extended its initial ten-year Gripen lease by another decade, with the current contract now expected to run until 2026, when the original 14 JAS 39C/Ds will become the full property of the HuAF. With a further four JAS 39Cs now on order for the HuAF, Saab will continue to provide operational/logistical support for the HuAF’s Gripen fleet until 2036. Neither the value of the deal or a delivery timeframe was disclosed in the announcement of this latest deal.
While a HuAF JAS 39D (42) was lost to attrition on May 19, 2015, this was later replaced by another dual-seat Gripen (44), which was delivered in July 2016. In early 2022, the process of upgrading the Hungarian Gripen fleet to the MS20 Block 2-standard began, which aimed to significantly enhance the type’s combat and communications capabilities.
As part of the recent upgrades, Saab has also improved the HuAF Gripen fleet’s PS-05/A Mk 4 radar by increasing its air-to-air target tracking range and overall performance. It has also enhanced its Link-16 tactical datalink communications functionality and will fit each Hungarian JAS 39C/D with Identification Friend-or-Foe (IFF) Mode 5 equipment to allow the fleet to employ a wider range of weapons, including the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile, GBU-49 Enhanced Paveway II laser-guided bomb and Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile.
