At 10:32 on Thursday June 15, Gripen E took off on its maiden flight, flown by a Saab test pilot. The aircraft (designation 39-8) left from Saab’s airfield in Linköping, Sweden and flew over the eastern parts of Östergötland for 40 minutes. During the flight, the aircraft carried out a number of actions to demonstrate various test criteria including the retracting and extending of the landing gear.

Kongsberg has entered into an agreement with the Finnish state for the purchase of 49.9 % of the shares in Patria for EUR 272 million. Patria is Finland’s leading defence supplier and owns 50 % of the shares in the Norwegian company Nammo. The partnership will be a leading defence supplier in the Nordics, and a considerable supplier on the European defence market, with total gross revenues of NOK 13.4 billion in 2015.