NEWTOWN, Conn. - The Swedish Ministry of Defense (MoD) announced on August 30 that the Czech Republic, Sweden and Slovakia have together signed a letter of intent (LoI) regarding cooperation on the JAS 39 Gripen combat aircraft. The central element of the LoI involves bilateral cooperation around a common surveillance of Czech and Slovak airspace.
The LoI paves the way for Slovakia-Sweden talks on accessing use of the Gripen for Slovakia.
Slovakia has expressed interest in acquiring the Gripen as an eventual replacement for its small fleet of Soviet-legacy MiG-29s inherited as part of its peaceful divorce from the Czech Republic in 1993. These fighters underwent upgrade work between 2005 and 2007 that brought them up to NATO standards and extended their service lives out to 2030. But as a result of cost considerations, Slovak pilot training on the MiG-29s has slipped and an inadequate service and spare parts support contract with RSK MiG dating back to 2002 left the Slovak Air Force with just 4 fully operational MiG-29SD Fulcrums by May 2011.
In order to bolster the deteriorating fleet and regain leverage with MiG, Defense Minister Martin Glvac altered the existing service agreement with RSK MiG, while awarding two separate contracts to the Russian company in September 2013 for the repair and upgrade of the Slovak MiG-29s radar systems and repair and recovery work on their airframes. In the meantime Slovakia is hoping to patch any capabilities gaps by agreeing to cooperation with the Czech Republic on joint air patrols which are expected to begin January 2015.
But that effort is merely a patch as Slovakia looks to move on from dependence on its MiG-29s for its air combat capabilities to a more NATO-friendly platform.
As the Czech Republic operates 14 JAS 39 Gripen C/D fighters under lease from Sweden, Slovakia has expressed interest in adding the platform to its inventory as a means of increasing interoperability between the two close partners. Whether the addition of the Gripen to the Slovak Air Force inventory would come in the form of lease or purchase remains a matter for the negotiation table, but with available equipment funding in the defense budget very limited the former option appears the most likely.
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