Sweden flies Gripen fighter jets on offer to Canada as part of NATO mission

JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets. (CTV News)

UPPSALA, Sweden -- As geopolitical tensions rise in many parts of the world, Swedish Armed Forces have six JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets deployed in Iceland.

This marks a significant milestone. It’s the first time Sweden leads air policing duties in the highly strategic territory since joining NATO in 2024. It’s also an occasion for the Swedes to show off their fighter jets to Canada, and how they fit into NATO operations.

This comes at a crucial time. Aside from keeping a close eye to the conflict in the Middle East, NATO recently activated “Arctic Sentry,” a surveillance and military operation boosting security in the Arctic and the high north. This, just weeks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s made demands to acquire Greenland.

Denmark is also providing four F-35 fighter jets to the mission.

The rotation runs from early February to mid-March, and the Swedish Air Force has invited CTV News to see the Gripens in action from Keflavik Air Base in Iceland.

This, as Canada and Sweden are redefining Northern security and cooperation in the face of changing relations with the United-States, according to Stockholm University professor Christophe Premat.

“I would say it’s not only strategic interest or mutual respect,” says Premat who describes Canada and Sweden as sister countries now developing a closer partnership. “I think that Sweden and Canada look at each other in the same way. They feel like fair players in international relations.”

NATO’s Allied Air Command Public Affairs says the deployment over the skies of Iceland marks a historic moment for Sweden, NATO’s newest ally.

The Gripens, along with more than 110 Swedish Air Force personnel from Skaraborg Air Wing F7 landed at Keflavik Air base to patrol the skies of Iceland, which has no standing air force.

NATO allies rotate to ensure security of the air space in this section of the corridor between North America and Europe.

“The Arctic environment presents unique operational challenges, including harsh weather, extended distances, and challenging flight conditions,” the Allied Air Command Public Affairs noted in a statement.

Those are conditions the Gripen is designed for, according to descriptions by Swedish aerospace company SAAB, the jet’s manufacturer.

SAAB has been courting the Canadian government in a bid to get Ottawa to revisit its decision to buy a fleet of American F-35 fighter jets made by Lockheed-Martin.

It is vying to land a contract that would see Gripens manufactured on Canadian soil, which they say would create ten thousand jobs.

Tensions over the fighter jets havegrown in the wake of threats from the White House to turn Canada into the 51st state.

Last year, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced a review of the decision to buy a full fleet of 88 American F-35’s made by Lockheed-Martin.

Some defence experts have argued the F-35 is the best fighter jet to meet the country’s defence goals.

U.S. ambassador to Canada Peter Hoekstra has also warned about potential consequences to the NORAD (North American Defense Command) continental defence pact if Canada doesn’t go through with a complete fleet purchase of F-35’s.

“One of the criteria for Norad is interchangeability and interoperability,” Hoekstra told CTV last May. “So that would mean that we’re flying the same kinds of planes, we’re using the parts, and it’s all interchangeable, and it’s one system.”

Hoekstra also noted in November that the “F-35 has been a phenomenal success” and that it is the product of a U.S.-led international consortium of nations including Canada. “It’s not an American plane. It’s an international plane,” he said.

The backdrop of the Gripens’ mission in Iceland includes turmoil in the Middle East, heightened tension with Russia and growing military activity in the Arctic and north Atlantic. The deployment is also playing out, as Canada’s decision on its final fighter jet fleet, is still up in the air.