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The Gripen and foreign arms sales (self.sweden)

submitted 2 years ago by Candelestine to c/sweden

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Hello Swedish friends.

I've been told before that Sweden cannot supply the Gripen fighters to Ukraine due to the country being at war.

While I understand the purposes and reasonings behind such a law, I was wondering if there is much of any talk within Sweden of changing this. Is it something the average Swedish citizen would have an opinion on? Is it debated?

I recently read that Ukrainians will be undergoing fighter training in Sweden. Does that mean the policy is potentially changing, and they will be receiving these much better-suited jets than the ones we Americans can sell them?

Thank you.

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

AFAIU. Swedish regulations as a general principle state that arms cannot be sold to states that are either, actively engaged in a military conflict, have a non-democratic rule, or violates human rights.

The catch is that there are some exceptions in the law which are often used as a loop hole. F.x Sweden sell arms to Saudi Arabia, USA, Pakistan, and Thailand. All of whom violates one or more of those rules to some extent.

So in reality that law does not stop Sweden from supplying Ukraine with arms, and indeed Sweden has already repeatedly supplied Ukraine with weapons after February 2022.

[–] Candelestine 1 points 2 years ago

I see. That makes sense. The Gripen then would have simply stood out, being an expensive modern fighter. But now that other western fighters are being provided, Sweden can provide them without standing out and stirring up too much trouble.

I admit I sincerely hope they do receive them, I would love to see the Gripen in action, serving in the role it seems to have been designed for.