Saab JAS 39E/F Gripen (F-39E/F in Brazil)
The new-generation Gripen — bigger, more powerful, with an AESA radar and a Brazilian production line · First flight 2017 · Delivered from 2019
Saab proved the concept with the two-seat Gripen Demo, which first flew on 27 May 2008 and later supercruised above Mach 1.2. The production JAS 39E is a substantially new aircraft: the General Electric F414 engine gives about 20% more thrust than the C/D's RM12, internal fuel rises by 40%, maximum take-off weight grows from 14 to 16 tonnes, and a relocated main landing gear makes room for two extra fuselage hardpoints. The PS-05/A radar is replaced by the ES-05 Raven AESA.
Sweden ordered 60 Gripen Es on 17 January 2013. The first test aircraft, 39-8, rolled out on 18 May 2016 and flew on 15 June 2017, and the first aircraft was delivered to the Swedish Air Force on 20 October 2025. Brazil signed for 28 single-seat F-39Es and 8 two-seat F-39Fs on 24 October 2014; its first aircraft flew at Linköping on 26 August 2019 and reached Brazil in September 2020, and the order has since grown to 45.
Part of the Brazilian fleet is assembled by Embraer at Gavião Peixoto, where the production line opened on 9 May 2023; the first Brazilian-built Gripen was presented on 25 March 2026. The two-seat Gripen F, developed with Brazil, first flew at Linköping on 28 August 2026 with a Brazilian Air Force test pilot in the rear seat. Thailand ordered its first Gripen E/Fs in August 2025 and Colombia signed for 17 in November 2025.
