Danish Defmin: 27 F-35 not enough to meet all requirements that are currently met by today’s F-16:

https://twitter.com/GripenNews/status/747393636741025792

A pity they cannot afford to buy more than 27 then…

Norway is still committed to 52 F-35 and will be a quite big operator of the F-35, at least compared to other European countries…

Why do you assume that the procurement of 50-75 F-35 implies some negative about the aircraft, such as expense? First off, let’s be clear, Israel is not paying for the F-35 solely from it’s own defense budget.
The IAF love their “Baz”, yet only received roughly 57 F-15 A-D. They would not be replacing all their inventory with F-35 anyway. Their “Ra’am” and “Sufa” are relatively new.

The F-35 is so much better than the other a/c they’ve got that there must be a reason, and the most likely I could think of is high expense. Not buying them but operating them.

They have some new F-16 and F-15 however in particular the F-16 could probably be sold off, there are probably many countries interested in such relatively new a/c.

Saab can contribute to the government’s Make-in-India and Skill India initiatives by setting up manufacturing facilities and training academies in the country, says Jan Widerström, the Swedish defence major’s India head and chairman. In an interview with Smriti Jain, he adds that the company welcomes the recent FDI reforms in the defence sector. “If India were to consider the Gripen fighter jet, Saab would be able to roll out the first aircraft from Indian soil in 3-5 years,” he says.

Full story: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/fe-columnist/we-can-roll-out-gripen-from-indian-soil-in-3-5-years/295216/

Israel will be getting 50 F-35 it seems; and they are hoping for another 25 (potentially B’s) bringing the total to 75.

http://www.iaf.org.il/4447-46784-en/IAF.aspx?kjdf

As I have said before: no doubt the F-35 is unique and very powerful — however that begs the question why only 75, why not replacing all their F-16 and F-15 with F-35? We all know that operating more than one type of fighter is extremely expensive. My guess is that the reason why they want to stop at 75 is that the F-35 is very expensive.

The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Airwing will be acquiring eight Swedish Gripen fighter jets according to the Business Weekly and Review.

Full story: http://www.defenceweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=43951:botswana-going-for-gripen–report&catid=35:Aerospace&Itemid=107

Let me put the disclaimer, that we are definitely in the process of developing one or two ‘fighter Make in India’ programs.“

As things stand, India its a three-way contest between Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Saab for a highly lucrative Indian production line of their mainstay fighter jets: the F/A-18 Super Hornet, the F-16 Block 60 IN and the Gripen NG.

Full story: http://www.livefistdefence.com/2016/06/its-official-india-developing-1-or-2-make-in-india-fighter-programs.html

No Rafale or Typhoon assembly line?

Stating that Saab plans to design, produce, support & innovate under PM Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ initiative for defence, the Swedish company’s India country head and Chairman Jan Widerström told FE Online that the Saab India is eyeing deals worth multi-billion dollars.

Saab highlighted key features of its new Gripen E fighter aircraft, which was recently unveiled in Sweden. The defence major is offering to make the latest version of Gripen, the Gripen E, in India.

Full story: http://www.financialexpress.com/article/industry/companies/saab-highlights-make-in-india-plans-says-gripen-has-lowest-life-cycle-cost-in-world-india-one-of-its-home-markets/285858/

The Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Commander Lt General Gaolathe Galebotswe this week confirmed that his organisation has interest in procuring new fighter jets to replace an aging fleet of their F5s.

Among the type of fighter jets the BDF is interested in is the Swedish made Gripen, which the army is said to have recently developed interest in procuring.

Full story: http://www.botswanaguardian.co.bw/news/item/1974-bdf-commander-confirms-interest-in-swedish-fighter-jets.html