Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet said the Swedish government paid for 14 Gripen C/D airframes that are unused in order to ensure that the production line at Saab can transition to the Gripen E.

Ten of those are C models while the rest are two-seaters. The government had hoped that the fighters could be exported to overseas customers but the orders never came in.

Replying to Svenska, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (Försvarets materielverk/ FMV) explained that those 14 airframes were included in the Gripen E contract.

“It was important to keep production going” the answer included.

FMV does not want to tell how many tax millions have been added to the empty hulls, but it is probably a deal of several hundred million SEK.