Article Posted on : - Feb 03, 2012

The Gripen fighter of Hungarian Air Force.

STOCKHOLM (BNS): Hungary has extened its contract with Sweden to operate the SAAB-made Gripen fighters for another ten years.

The two countries signed the contract on January 30, extending their Gripen partnership for a further 10 years.

The Hungarian Air Force operates 14 Gripen C/D fighters which were leased from Sweden after the two countries' governments entered into a lease-purchase agreement in 2001 and a further modification in 2003.

All aircraft were delivered to in 2006 and 2007, and all 14 aircraft were in operation with the Hungarian Air Force by the end of 2008.

The current contract was due to expire in 2016, but the countries have now decided to extend the partnership by another ten years, Saab said.