Swedish defense materiel organization FMV, which would facilitate any Gripen sale, said in a July 10 statement that while the aircraft meets all the operational requirements in Belgium’s request for proposals, Sweden itself could not meet Brussel’s need for “extensive operational support.”
“This would require a Swedish foreign policy and political mandate that does not exist today,” the FMV said.
http://aviationweek.com/defense/gripen- ... er-contestSo in other words; they are not saying that they withdraw because they do not have the technical capabilities to offer the support, but rather that due to Swedish policy they are not willing to offer the support that Belgium is asking for. This probably needs some additional explanations for those of you who are not familiar with Swedish politics.
Sweden has been "non-aligned" for a long time (since before WW1 I believe?) and in particular for the socialists (who are currently running the government) it seems important to show independence to NATO and the US.
Thus is should come as no surprise that Sweden says "no thanks" to enter an agreement that would force Sweden to support future NATO operations that may be not in aligmnent with Swedish policy.
Personally I think this is a clever move by the Swedish government -- they demonstrate to their core supporters that they give priority to their principles and internal Swedish policy rather than supporting Capitalist Saab at all costs; their core supporters are very unlikely to have much knowledge about military aviation and NATO and therefore will not appreciate that the Swedish government has stopped Saab from participating in a competition in which their chances of winning was approximately 0.00%.....
Oh well, such is politics.