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UK partners with Sweden on future combat air
DB News: 19/07/2019 - 10:48
Defence Secretary Penny Mordaunt and her Swedish counterpart have signed a landmark agreement.
The Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) commits both governments to work on a joint combat air development and acquisition programme, including the development of new concepts to meet both nations’ future requirements.
The Defence Minister outlined the UK and Sweden’s long partnership on defence, including: joint exercises in the Arctic and in Exercise Ramstein Alloy over the Eastern European skies; Swedish-made chaff and flare dispensers being used on UK Typhoons and Saab’s Giraffe radar as a key part of the UK’s Sky Sabre ground-based air defence system; Swedish Gripen aircraft being equipped with radars designed and built by Leonardo in Edinburgh; and the UK, working with European partners including Sweden, having developed the state-of-the-art beyond-visual-range Meteor air to air missiles.
Mordaunt said: “The UK and Sweden have an enduring defence relationship, with our two industries sharing a rich history of collaboration in air power. Not only do we share the same commitment to tolerance, freedom and free trade, we also share the same determination to defend those values, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and today as part of the UK’s Joint Expeditionary Force. This agreement further deepens this partnership and sees us look to the future with a bold and shared vision of UK and Swedish air power.”