Saab tapped to continue work on Sweden’s next flagship fighter jet

VIENNA — Saab has received a new contract worth approximately SEK 2.9 billion (roughly $303 million) from Sweden’s Defense Materiel Administration, FMV, to continue conceptual work on the country’s future fighter system, the company announced in a statement Wednesday.

The deal’s work period runs from 2026 to 2028, with options extending into 2029 and 2030, and builds on agreements signed in 2024 and 2025.

According to Saab, the work covers flying and ground-based demonstrators, advanced studies and the development of future system concepts for both manned and unmanned platforms. The company says the program is meant to strengthen Sweden’s capabilities in systems integration, autonomy, signature adaptation, propulsion and digital development, while reducing technical risk and preserving “freedom of action” for future decisions on the country’s air combat capability.

Lars Tossman, head of Saab’s Aeronautics business area, said in the statement that FMV’s continued confidence in Saab is “crucial to further develop and demonstrate new technologies that will be central to future fighter system.”

The order is the third in a series of awards tied to Sweden’s Koncept för Framtida Stridsflyg (KFS) program, also referred to as Vägval stridsflyg, which is intended to shape the country’s air power beyond 2040. The initial contract was signed in March 2024, followed by a SEK 2.6 billion extension in October 2025 covering 2025 to 2027. That earlier phase included plans for a flying demonstrator, with concept and technology development originally set to wrap up by the third quarter of 2026 and initial flight tests to follow in 2027.

Saab has previously outlined a family of concepts under its F-series branding, including a crewed fighter alongside subsonic and supersonic uncrewed platforms of varying weight classes and form factors.

The KFS was launched after Sweden withdrew from the British-led Team Tempest project, which would later become GCAP, in 2023, opting instead for its own domestic development.

Saab plays a crucial role in Sweden as the country’s only manufacturer of fighter jets, and its aircraft have made up the backbone of the Swedish air force for decades. Currently, the Saab Gripen plays this role.

Linus Höller is Defense News' Europe correspondent and OSINT investigator. He reports on the arms deals, sanctions, and geopolitics shaping Europe and the world. He holds master’s degrees in WMD nonproliferation, terrorism studies, and international relations, and works in four languages: English, German, Russian, and Spanish.

维也纳——萨博公司周三在一份声明中宣布，该公司已从瑞典国防物资管理局 (FMV) 获得一份价值约 29 亿瑞典克朗（约合 3.03 亿美元）的新合同，将继续开展该国未来战斗机系统的概念研究工作。

该协议的工作期限为 2026 年至 2028 年，并可选择延长至 2029 年和 2030 年，该协议建立在 2024 年和 2025 年签署的协议之上。

萨博公司表示，该项目涵盖飞行和地面验证机、高级研究以及有人和无人平台未来系统概念的开发。该公司称，该项目旨在增强瑞典在系统集成、自主性、特征识别、推进和数字化发展方面的能力，同时降低技术风险，并为瑞典未来在空中作战能力方面做出决策保留“行动自由”。

萨博航空业务部门负责人拉尔斯·托斯曼在声明中表示，FMV 对萨博的持续信任“对于进一步开发和展示对未来战斗机系统至关重要的新技术至关重要”。

这份订单是瑞典“未来空中力量概念”（Koncept för Framtida Stridsflyg，简称KFS，也称Vägval stridsflyg）计划相关系列授标中的第三份，该计划旨在塑造瑞典2040年后的空中力量。首份合同于2024年3月签署，随后在2025年10月续签了一份价值26亿瑞典克朗的合同，涵盖2025年至2027年。此前的阶段包括飞行验证机的研发计划，概念和技术开发原定于2026年第三季度完成，并于2027年进行首次飞行测试。

萨博此前已在其 F 系列品牌下概述了一系列概念，包括有人驾驶战斗机以及不同重量级别和外形尺寸的亚音速和超音速无人驾驶平台。

2023 年，瑞典退出了由英国主导的 Team Tempest 项目（后来成为 GCAP），转而选择自主研发，KFS 应运而生。

萨博公司在瑞典扮演着至关重要的角色，它是瑞典唯一的战斗机制造商，其生产的飞机几十年来一直是瑞典空军的中坚力量。目前，萨博“鹰狮”战斗机正发挥着这一作用。

林努斯·霍勒是《防务新闻》的欧洲记者和开源情报调查员。他报道影响欧洲乃至全球的军火交易、制裁和地缘政治。他拥有大规模杀伤性武器不扩散、恐怖主义研究和国际关系三个硕士学位，并精通英语、德语、俄语和西班牙语四种语言。