Buenos Aires: Colombia may purchase 16 to 24 new Swedish Saab 39 Gripen fighter jets, the second commander of the Colombian air force, Carlos Fernando Silva Rueda, said.
“The eventual negotiation does not have an exact cost, since it would involve a fleet of between 16 and 24 aircraft,” Silva Rueda was quoted as saying by El Tiempo news portal on Thursday.
Earlier on Thursday, Colombian President Gustavo Petro said that Colombia will purchase a batch of Swedish Saab 39 Gripen fighter jets. The agreement with Sweden also includes a program of compensatory investments in social projects in Colombia, such as the construction of a flexible solar panel manufacturing plant, the installation of drinking water systems, and the modernisation of the San Juan de Dios Hospital in Bogota, the president added.
Currently, the Colombian air force is armed with 22 Israeli-made Kfir C-12 fighters, which were modernised in 2017, but are generally outdated and need to be replaced.
