The Swedish Armed Forces have finally gotten their hands on their first operational Saab Gripen E multirole fighter. The first of 60 of the new jets marks a significant step in the modernization of the Swedish Air Force, which is reconfiguring its posture to better face off the resurgent threat from Russia.
The first Gripen E for the Swedish Air Force touched down at the airbase of Såtenäs, in south-central Sweden, yesterday. This is the home of F 7, or the Skaraborg Wing, which will be the service’s first operational Gripen E unit. A handover ceremony at Såtenäs included representatives from the Swedish Ministry of Defense, the Swedish Armed Forces, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV), and Saab.
“This is a big day that marks the beginning of a new chapter in Swedish aviation history,” said Skaraborg’s Wing Commander Mattias Ottis. “F 7 Skaraborg Wing is the center of Swedish fighter aircraft development; we are paving the way for the future. We are ready, we are excited, and now we are going for it.”
“This marks an important milestone in the development of the Swedish defense. It is the result of long-term cooperation and close collaboration between the Swedish Armed Forces, FMV, and Swedish industry. Gripen E strengthens our national defense capability to meet future threats together with our allies,” added Michael Claesson, commander-in-chief of the Swedish Armed Forces.
Notably, the Gripen E is already in operational service, in Brazil.
The Latin American nation was the first export customer for the jet and has also inaugurated a domestic production line, which will build 15 of the 36 aircraft currently contracted to the Brazilian Air Force. Unlike Sweden, Brazil is also receiving the two-seat variant of the jet, the Gripen F. The first Gripen for Brazil was shipped from Sweden to South America by sea, arriving there in September 2020.
Returning to Sweden, the Gripen E is seen very much as a cornerstone of the country’s changing defense policy, which has seen a renewed emphasis on its fighter fleet as the country grapples with a further deterioration in regional security policy including increasing Russian belligerence.
As well as joining NATO, in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, this new posture has seen Sweden decide to retain its older Gripen C/D fleet for longer, alongside the new-generation Gripen Es.
This marks a notable change for the Swedish Air Force.
After all, when switching from the Cold War-era Saab Viggen to the Gripen, the Swedish Air Force decided to use only one type of fighter aircraft for all tasks. Operating the Gripen E in parallel with the Gripen C/D, beyond a normal transition, reverses this.
Despite its similar outward appearance, the Gripen E is regarded as a completely new aircraft type — as you can read about here.
Ultimately, the Gripen E will take over the tasks currently performed by the Gripen C/D, but the two will serve together for “a relatively long period of time,” according to the Swedish Air Force.
In basic mission terms, the Gripen E offers a longer range and can carry a heavier load than its predecessor. The aircraft is slightly larger than the C-model at just under 50 feet and includes a beefed-up fuselage that accommodates approximately 30 percent more fuel. The aircraft also features larger air intakes, the more powerful General Electric F414 engine, and a total of 10 hardpoints.
On those 10 hardpoints, the heavy loads can include up to four of the big Saab RBS 15 anti-ship missiles, up to nine air-to-air missiles, or 16 Small Diameter Bombs, albeit at the expense of external fuel.
“It’s a completely new system — built to meet future requirements for survivability, range, sensors, and interoperability. It’s the result of Swedish engineering and innovation with a clear focus on operational effectiveness,” explained Mattias Ottis, commander of the Skaraborg Wing.
Under the skin, the Gripen E is also substantially different.
New features include its sensors, among them an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, and an infrared search and track (IRST) system. The communications system is also new, as is the aircraft’s advanced electronic warfare self-protection system.
All this reflects the fact that the Gripen E is intended to operate in a different threat environment compared to the Gripen C/D, a fact made clear by the Swedish Air Force:
“The Swedish Armed Forces have needed to find a way to operate in what is known as a ‘contested environment,’ i.e., an area where they do not have control,” the Air Force explains. “In the past, it was possible to take off and land in a controlled environment. Today, as soon as the aircraft takes off, we find ourselves in an uncertain environment, hence the need to develop a new and more capable fighter aircraft system.”
In another reflection of the increasingly contested environment that the Swedish Air Force is expected to be able to fight in, the Gripen E is being tested loaded with an artificial intelligence (AI) agent that can conduct autonomous beyond-visual-range air-to-air combat. You can read more about this initiative here. Suffice it to say, it’s very much focused on enabling a much smaller air arm (the Swedish Air Force) to deal with a potential large-scale Russian aerial attack. In such a scenario, AI could play a critical role in helping a force of Gripens armed with Meteor air-to-air missiles, for example, to prioritize multiple incoming threats and find the best solutions to combat them.
At the same time, the Gripen E retains some commonality with the Gripen C/D, especially in terms of its flying qualities.
The Swedish Air Force describes the new aircraft as “just as easy to fly and maneuver” as the Gripen C/D, and that pilots trained on the earlier aircraft “will feel right at home in the E.” This is especially important considering that, as mentioned previously, Sweden will not be buying two-seat versions of the new jet, which would ease the training process.
While the first Gripen E may have just been delivered, Sweden is already starting to plan for what might come next.
In a statement regarding the introduction of the new fighter, Swedish Minister of Defense Pål Jonson said: “Parallel to the introduction of Gripen E, studies are underway to prepare for the next generation of fighter aircraft.”
As TWZ has discussed, the FMV recently awarded Saab with a contract, worth around $276 million, for continued conceptual studies for future fighter systems.
At this early stage, it’s very much unclear what the Swedish Air Force’s future combat air ‘ecosystem’ will look like and how it will balance crewed and uncrewed assets — or if it will be an all-drone combat fleet.
But with the Gripen E only just entering service, it would seem to make sense that it’s paired in the future with stealthy drones. We have discussed in the past how ‘loyal wingman’ type drones are potentially even more relevant to so-called ‘generation 4.5’ fighters than fifth-generation ones.
Saab and the Swedish government, meanwhile, will hope that the induction of the Gripen E with the Swedish Air Force serves as a springboard for more export orders. After Brazil joined the program as a co-partner, it took a long time for more orders to come in, with the Gripen E/F losing out on more than one occasion to the F-35. More recently, however, the Gripen E has been ordered by Thailand — which already operates the Gripen C/D — and has been selected as Colombia’s next fighter jet.
The Gripen has also repeatedly been linked with a possible transfer to Ukraine, a topic that was reportedly discussed between President Volodymyr Zelensky and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson earlier this month. Sweden’s long-term plan is to have 120 Gripens serving by 2030, with half being E variants. That would leave roughly 37 Gripen C/D models potentially available to Ukraine, but the number is likely somewhat lower due to airframe fatigue and other factors.
The long-term future of Sweden as a developer and producer of crewed combat aircraft is by no means certain. But in the meantime, the start of Gripen F deliveries to the Swedish Air Force ensures that the service remains at the cutting edge as it starts to look forward to the next generation of combat aircraft.
Contact the author: [email protected]