Defense News: Interview: Sten Tolgfors - Minister of Defense Sweden

The Swedish Gripen

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Interview: Sten Tolgfors - Minister of Defense Sweden

Sten Tolgfors is overseeing the biggest restructuring of Sweden's armed forces in modern times. Regarded as a reformer - with strong problem-solving, analytical and negotiating skills fine-tuned during his earlier stint as minister for foreign trade - Tolgfors was appointed defense minister in September 2007, after the resignation of his Swedish Moderate Party colleague Mikael Odenberg. Tolgfors' spell in the Foreign Trade Ministry became apparent soon after he arrived at the Defense Ministry, when programs designed to internationalize Sweden's armed forces were accelerated and a greater degree of economic accountability was placed on defense budgeting and spending.

Sweden's Defense profile: ■ 2009 defense budget: $5 billion (1.48 percent of gross domestic product), including $1.6 billion for procurement. ■ Major defense programs: Gripen EF fighter aircraft, Archer artillery, Visby-class corvettes and NH90 helicopters. ■ Armed forces personnel: 47,000, including 21,000 in the Army, 5,000 in the Navy, 8,000 in the Air Foce, 7,500 in command and control, and 5,500 in logistics. ■ Deployed troops: 1,000 serving on missions in Afghanistan, Chad, Congo, Kosovo, the Middle East and Sudan.

Defense News: Saab Makes Case for Gripen as F-X2 Choice - by Antonie Boessaenkool

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Saab Makes Case for Gripen as F-X2 Choice - by Antonie Boessaenkool

In a press briefing at the Latin America Aerospace and Defense conference, executives of Swedish company Saab appealed to Brazil's desire to gain technology through its fighter jet competition, and said Saab would make offset investments in Brazil equal to the size of the contract, which Brazil plans to award this year. The euro 1.88billion ($2.2b) competition for 36 fighters pits the Gripen against Boeing's F-18 and Dassault's Rafale.

Bob Kemp, Gripen International's sales and marketing director says: "More than 99 percent of fighters worldwide come from the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and I can tell you those guys don't go around handing out their technology. That's why they still have over 99 percent of the market. If you want to do something different and control your own destiny, there is only one choice, and that is Sweden's Gripen." Saab has completed 78 test flights with the Next-Generation Gripen it is proposing for Brazil's contest, Kemp said. The company received nine requests for proposals or for information involving the Gripen from countries worldwide.