Swedish defense company Saab actively promotes its Gripen E fighter for Portugal, offering possibility to organize aircraft final assembly directly in country if Portuguese Air Force ultimately chooses specifically aircraft from Sweden.
Recall Portugal is choosing replacement for its obsolete F-16 fighters, with Gripen's closest competitor being American fifth-generation F-35 aircraft.
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CNN Portugal reports meeting details. Saab emphasizes their fighter proposal for Portugal is quite flexible and can develop along different paths, depending on whether, for example, country chooses exclusively Gripen for reinforcement or generally dares to purchase mixed fighter fleet. Moreover, as Saab Gripen fighter division Vice President Daniel Boestad confirmed, Portugal already participates in these aircraft production, supplying components to them.
As publication reports, three Portuguese companies are already involved in Gripen E component supply chain: Vangest, whose specialization is molds and plastics; Kristaltek with precision mechanics experience; and ThyssenKrupp Iberia, which deals with metal products.
In case Portugal ultimately purchases specifically Gripen, aviation company OGMA will handle fuselage part assembly. Overall Swedes are ready to implement industrial model similar to one already working with Brazil — where besides fighter assembly, active Brazilian defense-industrial complex involvement in aircraft production is also provided, including partial localization of aircraft onboard radio-electronic equipment.
However, for all this Saab needs to win competition with Lockheed Martin, as previously Portugal was oriented specifically toward American F-35. Options for seeking other suppliers began being considered last year given Trump's odious policy and concerns regarding likely modernization and maintenance problems.
Portugal is not the only country that after Trump's second presidential term start faced choice between Gripen and F-35. Despite all likely nuances of further U.S. cooperation, American fighter's important advantage remains the fact it is still fifth-generation aircraft, and this argument sometimes remains decisive.
For example, last year Czechia amid general F-35 turbulence directly acknowledged no other fifth-generation fighter alternatives exist for them on market now, as specifically this generation aircraft and higher will be able to survive on battlefield after 2040s.
Actually, directly in Portugal back in March last year at country's air force level, they announced they absolutely do not reject option of purchasing specifically American F-35. Moreover, at that time no analysis of likely variants was conducted at all, which will be decisive for final fighter choice.
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