Sweden and Germany sign letter of intent on air defence, Swedish government says

ANKARA, July 8 (Reuters) - The Swedish and German governments have signed a letter of intent regarding air defence, Sweden's defence minister said on Wednesday, adding that there was German interest in working with Sweden's Saab on new fighter jets.

Defence Minister Pal Jonson said he had signed the deal at the NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius.

Saab has recently rolled out the latest version of the Gripen fighter jet, which will be used by the Ukrainian air force. Jonson said several European countries, including Germany, had expressed interest in collaborating with Saab.

"That is because we are one of two countries in Europe that can actually produce, design and come up with new fighter jets, together with France," he said.

Reuters reported in June that Airbus was increasingly looking to Sweden's Saab as a preferred futurepartner after the collapse of a Franco-German fighter programme.

Jonson also said that there could be collaboration around unmanned systems, the so called loyal wingman project.

(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Philippa Fletcher)