Sweden to send Gripen jets to help patrol Polish airspace

Foreign Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said the aircraft would be part of an operation responsible for protecting the logistics node which gathers support for Ukraine.

"By participating in the operation, we are helping to get aid to Ukraine", Stenergard told a news conference, adding that Stockholm would send "up to eight Jas Gripen aircraft with associated personnel".

This announcement comes just a few hours before the start of an extraordinary summit on strengthening European defence, in response to US President Donald Trump's freeze on US military aid to Ukraine.

Poland's Defence Minister Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysz thanked Sweden on X for the decision "which demonstrates our solidarity and unity in the face of threats to our security."

Last year, Sweden suspended plans to send its domestically developed Gripen fighter jets to Ukraine, in response to a request from partner countries to give priority to American F-16s.

"This is the first time that Swedish fighter jets will take part in air policing operations from an ally's territory," Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.

He said the air force mission would involve six to eight Gripen aircraft and about 110 personnel.

Sweden ended two centuries of military non-alignment and became NATO's newest member in March 2024.

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