Swedish Tech, Soviet Airframes: Inside Saab's Plans to Upgrade Ukraine's Old Fighters

Everyone loves a shiny jet, but the real strategic value lies in what Ukraine already has.

Ukrainian Fulcrum. AFU

Ukraine’s Soviet-era jets aren’t retiring anytime soon, and that’s by necessity, not nostalgia. So, the next best option? Give them a facelift, courtesy of Sweden’s aerospace giant Saab.

On May 23, 2025, Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Defense for Aviation Development, Oleksandr Kozenko, sat down with a Swedish delegation led by Saab’s Director for Ukraine Affairs, Thomas Lindén. The mission: figure out how to make legacy Ukrainian airframes fly like they were built this century, specifically by integrating Swedish-made avionics, electronic warfare systems, and radar.

This isn’t a paper exercise. Ukraine has already pulled off some Frankenstein-grade innovation under fire, like adapting AGM-88 HARM missiles to MiG-29s using iPads as fire control solutions. Or slapping Storm Shadows on Su-24s using NATO pylon adapters. Saab’s upgrades would professionalize this kind of workarounds into hardened, survivable combat systems.

The concept is simple but impactful: bolt Saab’s electronic warfare tools, radar tech, and threat countermeasures onto Ukrainian Su-27s, MiG-29s, Su-24s, and Su-25s to make them deadlier and harder to kill.

Think of it less like a new lease on life, and more like dragging Cold War jets into the drone-saturated battlespace of 2025.

As Kozenko put it, “Ukraine gains combat capability. Sweden gains battlefield data.” It’s a fair trade, assuming the upgrades make it past the discussion table and onto the flight line.

The Saab Factor: Europe’s Stealth Powerhouse

Let me put this on the record: Saab might be the single best, most high-tech defense contractor in Europe, and not enough people are talking about it.

While some firms in Europe are still coasting on Cold War legacies and decade-long procurement delays, Saab is out here quietly punching above its weight in every domain: air, sea, land, and now, space and cyber. And unlike some of its bigger rivals, it doesn’t need multinational committees to innovate. It just builds systems that work, and then iterates faster than most of NATO can hold a meeting.

Need receipts?

Start with the Gripen. It’s not just a “budget Eurofighter,” as I’ve heard some people call it… It’s a modular, multirole, combat-proven fighter designed with networked warfare baked in from the start. It’s built to launch from roadways, survive in denied environments, and run full-spectrum EW ops without costing $100 million a unit. It’s the F-35 for countries that like results more than Lockheed’s underwhelming stock dividends.

Or take the Giraffe radar series: mobile, rapidly deployable, 3D radar systems that can detect cruise missiles, helicopters, and drones with astonishing reliability. Ukraine’s air defense would be thrilled to have a few of these to plug sensor gaps in the layered network.

But where Saab really flexes is in the non-sexy, war-winning tech, the stuff that doesn’t trend on X but saves lives every night. Case in point: Saab’s Barracuda multispectral camouflage system.

This isn’t camo netting. It’s thermal suppression tech that breaks up visual, IR, radar, and even near-UV signatures. It’s already in use on vehicles and static positions in multiple NATO countries, and yes, some have reportedly made it to Ukraine. In a war where visibility equals vulnerability, Barracuda isn’t an accessory, it’s body armor for everything from HIMARS launchers to forward operating bases.