International Gripen conference in Budapest: effectiveness and safety in focus

Held in one of Budapest’s iconic buildings, the Bálna Defence Centre in May, the event was attended by the representatives of air forces of five countries, namely Brazil, Czechia, Sweden, Thailand and Hungary.

The participants were working in several working groups, in which they debated the topics of procurement, development and operation, and also those of flight safety, logistics and maintenance. Special attention was paid to sharing the operational lessons learned in diverse climatic and geographical environments, as well as to the tackling of related special challenges.

The Gripen Users Group aims at achieving that the countries operating Gripen fighter aircraft share their lessons learned with each other, analyze the challenges of operation, and collectively work out solutions for increasing effectiveness and flight safety.

The annual meeting not only strengthens professional cooperation but also contributes to the deepening of relations between participating countries. The Hungarian hosts considered it especially important to introduce their guests to the results and developments of the Hungarian Gripen fleet, and to look for possibilities of further development together with their international partners.

An invited guest present on a day of the conference organized by the HDF Defence Staff Capabilities Development Office was the Swedish Saab Group, the manufacturer of Gripen fighter jets, so the user countries were able to directly share their lessons learned with the manufacturer.