The Viggen took over from the Draken fighter and the Lansen ground attack aircraft

When we think about Cold War military jet aircraft, we mostly think about those from Britain, America and the Soviet Union. All three air arms had something pretty wild in their fleet. Britain had the awe-inspiring English Electric Lightning. The American’s had the incredible B-52 bomber. And the Soviet Union had the Yak-38. Not a very good aircraft, but an interesting one nonetheless. However, one country that perhaps doesn’t immediately spring to mind is that of Sweden. That is strange, because Sweden’s Saab produced some amazing jet aircraft.

One of the most dramatic aircraft was the Draken. This was a delta-wing jet fighter and interceptor that took over from earlier aircraft such as the Saab 29 Tunnan and the Saab 32 Lansen. But of course, jet aircraft development never stands still. And soon Sweden would need a new fighter to succeed from its famed flying triangle. That is where the unbelievable Saab 37 Viggen came in. This mighty aircraft, the first flight of which occurred in February 1967, took over from the Draken and became the first canard design aircraft produced in quantity. Amazingly, some are still flying to this day.

The Viggen’s initial design purpose was to be a replacement for both the Lansen in the attack role, and latterly the Draken in the role of a fighter aircraft. And from the outset, the Viggen was planned to have an integrated weapon system. By that, we mean it was designed to operate in conjunction with the newest version of Sweden’s national electronic air defense system, STRIL-60. As you might expect, the Viggen was to be a Mach 2 capable aircraft, plus have the ability to make short landings at very low angles of attack.

In 1963, Saab was able to finalize the aerodynamic of the new Saab 37. This saw the aircraft not only have a double delta wing, but also a high-set canard foreplane with powered trailing flaps. This was in order to meet the required short take off and landing requirements, and coupled with the delta wing helped to give the new fighter tremendous amounts of lift. Saab initially hoped to power the new aircraft with the new Rolls-Royce Medway engine. But when that was canceled, the aircraft received the Volvo RM8 engine, a redesigned under license version of the American Pratt & Whitney JT8D engine.

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The first flight of the Viggen took place on February 8th 1967, while its first public appearance outside of Sweden took place at the 1969 Paris Air Show. And in July 1967, the first production aircraft, an AJ 37 model, was delivered to the Swedish Air Force. There were multiple versions of the Viggen, but the two primary versions of the Viggen were the AJ37 and the JA 37. The AJ 37 was the ground attack version, that took over the role of the Lansen. This could carry a weapons load of up to 15,500lbs on nine hardpoints.

Meanwhile, the fighter interceptor version, and perhaps most famous Viggen, was the JA 37. This was first introduced in 1979. Equipped with the Ericsson PS 46/A radar, the aircraft would have RB 71 Skyflash air-to-air missiles plus the RB 24J air-to-air missile too, four of the latter and two of the former. Sweden would go on to develop multiple versions of the Viggen, including upgrades to the JA and AJ 37 variants, plus the SH 37 maritime recon version of the aircraft. And the Viggen would go on to serve the Swedish Air Force very well.

The Viggen was first introduced into the Swedish Air Force in July 1971, when the AJ 37 Viggen was delivered to the Skaraborg Wing. By 1974, the Swedish Air Force had two operation squadrons equipped with the Viggen and the third was on the way. While it wouldn’t see combat service, the Viggen would prove to be a safe and reliable aircraft, plus easy to maintain. And it has the distinction of being the only aircraft to ever get an acknowledged radar lock onto the Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird spyplane. This showed the capabilities of the Viggen.

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Replacement of the Viggen had started by 1994, with the more advanced and very potent Saab JAS 39 Gripen on its way into Swedish Air Force service. The phasing out of the Viggen was progressive, with the last front line Viggen retired in November 2005. A few carried on in the electronic warfare training role against the Gripen for a couple of years before they were retired in June 2007. Today, the Swedish Air Force Historical Flight has a pair of Viggen’s on its books. These two aircrafts, an AJS 37 and an SK 37 trainer, help to keep alive the memory of one of the most potent, capable and reliable jet aircraft of the Cold War.

Sources: YouTube, Military Factory, Air Vectors, Hush Kit, Reddit

Covering anything from JDM cars to classic jets. Contributed to HotCars since the Autumn of 2018. Writes features, news and list articles.