In 1978 the Swedish Government decided that the Swedish Air Force needed a new multirole aircraft for the turn of the century. At the same time as the Swedish aerospace industry was defining a new project, the Air Force made an evaluation of existing foreign aircraft such as the American F-16 and F-18. After an evaluation process, Parliament decided in June 1982 to go ahead with the Swedish project and the Defence Materiel Administration signed a contract for development of the JAS 39 Gripen, and the final flight tests were completed in December of 1996.

A total of 204 aircraft in three batches have been ordered for the Swedish Air Force. The first batch of 30 aircraft has been completed. Deliveries from the second batch are ongoing, and comprises 96 one-seater and 14 two-seater aircraft. About 60 Gripens are in service with the Swedish Air Force. In June 1997, a third batch of 64 Gripens was approved by the Swedish Government and ordered by the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV). This will take the total for the Swedish Air Force to 204 aircraft, including 28 two-seaters. Production of batch thre is scheduled for 2002-2007.

An important factor when offering the Gripen for export, is the aircraft missile system. Currently, the Gripens used by the Swedish Air Force are armed with AIM-120 AMRAAM, AIM-9 Sidewinder, the Saab Dynamics RBS 15 for ship targets, and the Maverick ground attack missile. Saab Dynamics cooperates with the major European missile manufacturers in the development of new air-to-air missiles for the Eurofighter, the Rafale and the Gripen. The two main projects currently underway are the Meteor and the IRIS-T. The Meteor is a radar-guided, medium range (10-120 km.) air-to-air missile, which will compete with future versions of the Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM. The Meteor program features Matra BAe Dynamics, Saab Dynamics, Alenia Difesa, Marconi and German LFK. The IRIS-T is an IR-guided, short-range air-to-air missile, primarily funded by Germany for the Eurofighter. The project group includes Bodenseewerk Geratechnik and Saab Dynamics.