Saab 39 Gripen to Croatia

[hammarö]

Croatia is close to buy 8 or 12 JAS 39 Gripen (Sofia Karlberg, Försvarsexportmyndigheten, Defence Authorities, Sweden).

http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/kroati ... ig-jas-kop

[Stratofreighter]

Translation in English of http://www.dn.se/nyheter/sverige/kroati ... ig-jas-kop:

http://translate.google.nl/translate?sl ... ig-jas-kop

[Stratofreighter]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articl ... se-377550/

Croatia has been formally offered the purchase of eight Saab Gripen C/Ds to replace its aged air force fleet of Mikoyan MiG-21 fighters.

Submitted on 10 October, the bid also includes the proposed provision of a "support and training package for pilots and technicians, and a financing solution", says Sweden's Defence and Security Export Agency (FXM). Saab and other Swedish companies would also establish industrial cooperation with Croatian firms under the offer.

"In order to ensure that the Croatian air force remains operative without interruption when its current MiG-21s are decommissioned, Sweden offers a solution where the Gripen C/D aircraft can be operative as soon as within one year after a contract is signed," says Jerry Lindbergh, FXM's programme director for Croatia.
The NATO member's air force inventory includes six MiG-21s, as recorded by Flightglobal's MiliCAS database.

A translation of http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/piloti-o ... nak-462699
at
http://translate.google.com/translate?s ... nak-462699
seems to hint at a possible in-service-date of Croatian Gripens as early as January 2014 for a grand total of six single-seaters and two trainers.
Offering to buy an ailing shipyard at Rijeka from the state of course also helps...

http://translate.googleusercontent.com/ ... SUw8H5jEzg ,
a translation of
http://www.vecernji.hr/vijesti/hrvatska ... nak-366150
already dates back from the beginning of this year, but may be an interesting read for some.

Some Mig-21s may be "expired" after May 2003, necessitating a large overhaul.

[Coati]

Interesting development! Anyone knows if these are new build aircraft of Swedish AF aircraft?

EDIT: found the answer, it is a 10 year lease of Swedish Air force aircraft.