Hungary to Renew Gripen

Hungarian government decided to extend the lease 14 Gripen fighter JAS39 C / D, as the economically most rational solution. Talks on the details of the contract they want to finish by the end of January.

According to Defence Minister Csaba Hende, 4 January. Hungarian government decided to extend the lease Gripen fighters multitask JAS39 C / D for the next 10 years. The current agreement, concluded in 2003, valid until 2016. According to the minister Hende, there is no realistic solution variant for further exploitation Gripen, which are the main fighting force of the Hungarian Air Force. - Leasing of previously used fighter jets to the 2026 budget should bring the Hungarian defensive saves on the level of 62 billion forints in relation to the cheapest alternative - Hende added. This information has been provided in response to a query Mr Agnes Vadai.

Analysis of the Hungarian military and economic experts, lasting up to 20 December 2011. After approval by the government embraced by the Ministry of Defence, the movement belongs to the Sweden. According to the minister Hende, they should take a position until the end of January.

Hungarians expect a significant reduction in fees associated with continued use Gripen, because under the original contract has already paid more than half the full price of the leased fighters. The rest of this value should be repaid by the end of 2016. Hungarians are proposing a reduction in lease payments over the next 5 years by 17.4% to the rest of the amount due - 34.4% of total pay in the next decade. It is not known whether Hungary will decide to upgrade their Gripen . It would generate additional, difficult to estimate costs.

According to the agreement of 2003, a 10-year lease Gripen 14 (12 single-seater version of C and 2 two-seaters - D) is expected to cost 340 billion forints (about 1.1 billion euros). Another 58 billion forints (about 190 million euros) was spent on crew training and Swedish Supported aircraft. Currently, the annual leasing payments are, respectively, 30 and 2 billion.