Saab 37 Viggen, the advanced aircraft, and the only one that could lock on the legendary Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird.
The Saab 37 Viggen (Swedish for "the Bolt" or "the Tufted Duck" is a retired Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range multirole combat aircraft. Development work on the type was initiated at Saab in 1952 and, following the selection of a radical delta wing configuration, the resulting aircraft performed its first flight on 8 February 1967 and entered service on 21 June 1971. It was the first canard design produced in quantity and arguably the most modern/advanced combat aircraft in Europe at the time of introduction, featuring an airborne digital central computer with integrated circuits for its avionics, the world's first of its kind, automating and taking over tasks previously requiring a navigator/copilot, facilitating handling in tactical situations where, among other things, high speeds and short decision times determined whether attacks would be successful or not, a system not surpassed until the introduction of the Panavia Tornado into operational service in 1981.
Several distinct variants of the Viggen were produced to perform the roles of fighter bomber/strike fighter (AJ 37), aerial reconnaissance (SF 37), maritime patrol/anti-surface (SH 37), and a two-seat trainer (Sk 37). In the late 1970s, the all-weather interceptor/strike fighter JA 37 variant was introduced. In November 2005, the Viggen was retired from service by the Swedish Air Force, the only operator, having been replaced by the newer Saab JAS 39 Gripen.
The Viggen was designed to be simple to maintain, even by conscripted flight line mechanics with limited technical training.] A single Viggen could be maintained by a team of five conscripts under the supervision of a single chief mechanic. Standard turnaround, including refueling and rearming, took less than ten minutes to perform; while an engine replacement took four hours. Over the long term, the Viggen required 22-man hours per flight hour of maintenance work at the depot level and nine-man hours per flight hour at the front line.
By the mid-1980s, Swedish Viggen fighter pilots, using the predictable patterns of Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird routine flights over the Baltic Sea, had managed to achieve radar lock-on with radar on the SR-71 on numerous occasions. Despite heavy jamming from the SR-71, target illumination was maintained by feeding the target location from ground-based radars to the fire-control computer in the Viggen. The most common site for the lock-on to occur was the thin stretch of international airspace between Öland and Gotland that the SR-71 used on the return flight. The Viggen is the only aircraft to get an acknowledged radar lock on the SR-71.
By 1994, the replacement of the Viggen by the later and more advanced Saab JAS 39 Gripen was in progress, the type being progressively phased out as greater numbers of Gripen aircraft were delivered. On 25 November 2005, the last front-line Viggen was formally retired by the Swedish Air Force. A few aircraft were kept in an operational condition for electronic warfare training against the Gripen at F 17M in Linköping; the last of these Viggen flights took place in June 2007.
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 16.4 m (53 ft 10 in)
Wingspan: 10.6 m (34 ft 9 in)
Height: 5.9 m (19 ft 4 in)
Wing area: 46 m2 (500 sq ft)
Empty weight: 9,500 kg (20,944 lb)
Gross weight: 16,439 kg (36,242 lb) (AJ37 17,000 kg (37,479 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 19,274 kg (42,492 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Volvo RM8B afterburning turbofan, 72.1 kN (16,200 lbf) thrust dry, 125 kN (28,000 lbf) with afterburner
Performance
Maximum speed: 2,231 km/h (1,386 mph, 1,205 kn) at 36,100 ft (11,003 m)
Maximum speed: Mach 2.1
Ferry range: 1,820 km (1,130 mi, 980 nmi) internal fuel only
Service ceiling: 18,000 m (59,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 203 m/s (40,000 ft/min)
Armament
Guns: 1 × 30 mm Oerlikon KCA cannon with 125 rounds
Hardpoints: 9 (three hardpoints under the fuselage and three under each wing) with a capacity of 7,000 kg (15,000 lb), with provisions to carry combinations of:
Missiles:
4 x RB99 AMRAAM (JA 37D),
2 x RB71 Skyflash (only JA37),
6 x AIM-9 Sidewinder
4 rocket pods (135 mm, 5.4 in).
U95 ECM pod (JA 37D)
2 x RB 04
2 x RBS 15
2 x Rb 05
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