SAAB GRIPEN

SAAB/Gripen International JAS39A Gripen (Gryphon) 7 Wing, Swedish Air Force, 2000.
Airfix repackage Italeri's nicely detailed Gripen kit, albeit with less weaponry.
Decals are quite good though, giving the (comparatively) colourful early scheme.
Sweden's commitment to neutrality is clearly evidenced by their determination to
develop indigenous combat aircraft. The Gripen was the first of the current fighter
generation to become operational and has established itself as the front running
F-16 successor; in a joint venture with BAe, it has also achieved significant export
success, with sales to South Africa, Hungary and the Czech republic. Thailand has
also recently ordered 2 batches of Gripens as F-5 replacements.

Like its predecessor, the Gripen is designed to fly from austere facilites (e.g.
roads and dispersed operating bases) and with minimal support, which makes it an
ideal candidate for modern expeditionary warfare.
Although not widely publicised, the aircraft had significant British design input,
particularly in wing design, that can be traced back to 1970s Hawker designs for
advanced combat aircraft. Its radar system is also based on the SELEX (ex-Ferranti)
Blue Vixen system, developed for the Sea Harrier and which also forms the basis of
the Eurofighter CAPTOR radar. In Swedish Af service, Gripens are fitted with the
advanced STRIL90 system, which provides a fully linked and integrated Ground-Air
network environment, allowing co-operative use of sensors and weapons systems.

SAAB JAS39B Gripen (Gryphon), UK MoD Empire Test Pilot School, 2006.
Italeri's 2-seat Gripen is currently more difficult to find than the more common
single seat kit. It shares most sprue parts with the single seater, but includes
a different fuselage. The forward undercarriage doors also reflect the far more complicated
set-up on the twin seater and there is a different aerial fit. Link to build page

Since 1999, leased Gripens have been used by the QinetiQ-operated UK MoD Empire Test
Pilot School (ETPS) to train military test pilots and Flight Test Engineers on modern
high perfomance aircraft, including students from the British Royal Air Force, the
Royal Australian Air Force, the United States Navy and the French Air Force.

Although normally operating from SAAB's facility at Linkoping in Sweden, a specially
marked ETPS Gripen is regularly seen at UK shows, and it was in this guise that it
appeared at the 2006 Farnborough Air Show, complete with blue fin and spine, ETPS
badge and QinetiQ titles on the forward fuselage. The blue trim and badge remain,
but the QinetiQ titles apparently annoyed the Swedish Air Force and were quickly
removed.

SAAB JAS39C Gripen (Gryphon), F7 Wing Swedish Air Force, Satenas, 2012.
The standard Italeri single-seat Gripen kit is intended to represent the JAS39A model,
but as the two variants are effectively identical from the outside I have marked
this one up as a C model, adding some spare Taurus and IRIS-T missiles from the Revell
Typhoon kit. Link to build page
The JAS39C variant of the Gripen adds a more powerful engine, air to air refuelling
capability and improved NATO weapons compatability via a Mil-Std databus.

With a new colour glass cockpit, the JAS39C retains all the air to air capability
of the JAS39A, but provides additional air to ground capabilities and new weapons
systems including the KEPD350 Taurus cruise missile. Similar to the UK-French Storm
Shadow / Apache missile, Taurus is larger and with a greater (<500km) range, onboard
defensive counter measures and specialist anti-bunker warhead.

As well as new build aircraft, many existing JAS39A aircraft have now been converted
to C standard. Gripens now also carry the latest IRIS-T short range air-to-air missile,
a highly agile and full backward compatible Sidewinder replacement.

Friends & Allies - Part 3b - Other Friends & Allies

Main Index
Main Index
In no particular chronological order - aircraft of other friendly nations and anything
else that has taken my fancy!.
Folland Gnat F.1
HavLv 11/HamLsto Ilmavoimat (Finnish Air Force), Luonetjarvi, Finland 1971
Special Hobby have produced a superb little model of the single seat Gnat that is
available in several sets of markings, including RAF, Indian Air Force, Yugoslavian
and this Finnish example. Link to build page
SAAB J-29 Tunnan
F3 Wing, Malmen (Linkoping), Royal Swedish Air Force, 1963
I have always thought the barrel shaped Tunnan looked impressively pugnacious, so
acquired this kit to add to my Gripens and Viggens. As is normal for Matchbox, the
panel lines are very deep and detail rather crude, but buildability and fit are good.
Link to build page
The Saab J-29 first flew in the early 1950s and continued in front-line service up
until the 1970s. Based on WW2 German swept wing developments, the J-20, or Flygande
Tunnan (flying barrel) was fast and agile, with power provided by a Swedish built
variant of the DeHavilland Ghost turbojet. A total of 661 Tunnans were built, making
it the largest production run of any Saab aircraft. In 1954 it briefly held the world
air speed record with a verified 607 Mph over a 500km closed circuit course.
The Tunnan's early crash record was poor, due to the advanced and demanding nature
of the jet engines and swept wings. As a result the Swedish Air Force purchased twin
seat De Havilland Vampire T.11s to train their J-29 pilots.
Swedish Tunnans saw combat service in the Congo from 1961 to 1964, flying ground
attack missions in support of the UN peacekeeping forces. The aircraft were rated
very highly by those who saw them, with their performance and availability at least
the match of any of the aircraft fielded by the major powers. The final F variant
of the J-29 introduced an afterburning Ghost engine, plus a dogtooth wing to improve
maneuverability and from 1963, the capability to carry AIM 9B Sidewinder air to air
missiles on wing pylons.
Vertol 107 HKP-4, Royal Swedish Navy, 2008.
The Boeing Vertol 107 design was selected by the US Marines in early 1961 as the
CH-46 Sea Knight assault helicopter and is expected to remain in service until 2014,
when the last squadrons will have converted to the MV-22 Tilt Rotor aircraft.
In Swedish service, the aircraft is known as the HKP-4; as well as its normal assault
and cargo role with the Swedish Air Force, Swedish Navy Vertols are used as Anti-Submarine
helicopters, fitted with a radar dome on the rear ramp and capable of carrying depth-charges
and homing torpedoes. 107 variants were also built under licence by Kawasaki in Japan.
SAAB AJ-37 Viggen. 2nd Prototype/development aircraft
As is often the case with kit manufacturers, in their rush to sell a Viggen kit,
Airfix produced the prototype, which is very different from the later production
versions. Although it looks the part, it is a rather crude kit, which doesn't fit
together all that well.
"Viggen" is apparently a play on words - not only is it the mythical sound of Thor's
hammer, but it is also a type of duck, most appropriate for a canard winged aircraft
(although I have never personally seen a duck with wings at the front!).
Designed as a multi-role fighter, able to operate from Sweden's dispersed airfields
(including sections of highway) its development represented an astonishing achievement
for a single nation. One of the Viggen's roles was to patrol the Baltic sea, keeping
track of NATO and Warsaw Pact aircraft and shipping and guarding Swedish neutrality.
DHC-6 Twin Otter.
Gruppo 5, Fuerza Aerea de Chile, El Tepual Military Air Base, Puerto Montt, Chile
2008
Revell re-released the old Matchbox DHC-6 kit a few years back as one of their limited
edition "classic kits", with some typically superb modern decals for a short-nosed
yellow Canadian Air-Force aircraft and for another rather unimaginative long-nosed
yellow example belonging to Guernsey-based Aurigny Air Services. However, I fancied
doing something a little different and more "military" for this long-nosed example.
Link to build page
The DHC-6 Twin Otter is a 20 passenger turboprop STOL aircraft that first flew in
1965. Developed from the highly successful single piston engined DHC Otter, the improved
reliability and power of the Twin Otter assured its success in bush and rough field
operations around the world with over 850 built to date.
De Havilland Canada (owned at the time by Boeing) ended production in 1988, but eighteen
years later in 2006, Viking Air announced that it would restart production of a modernised
and improved variant, with the first new aircraft receiving type certification and
being successfully delivered in 2010.
The Chilean Air Force is the 4th oldest independent air arm in the world and took
delivery of its first Twin Otters in 1967, operating them in widely varying conditions
across their very long country, from the hot and high desert airstrips of the far
north through the temperate central valleys to the snow covered strips of the south
and on into the antarctic.
Douglas A-4G Skyhawk
805 Squadron / VF-805, Royal Australian Navy, HMAS MELBOURNE, Spithead, June 1977
Hasegawa, 1/72 with ModelDecal transfers. Link to build page
After re-forming with Seafires for the Pacific campaign, 805 Sqn finally disbanded
in 1948, but was immediately resurrected as a Royal Australian Navy Squadron. Initially
equipped with Sea Furies and embarked in the RAN's first aircraft carrier, HMAS SYDNEY,
the squadron saw active service in Korea, before transitioning to the Sea Venom in
1958, embarked this time in HMAS MELBOURNE.
In 1968, 805 Sqn received its first A-4G Skyhawks, an aircraft it would retain until
the end of RAN fixed-wing flying in 1982. Small enough to operate from the RAN's
limited carrier deck space and offering increased operational compatibility with
the USN, the A-4 packed a powerful punch for its size, costing less than half the
price of an F-4, but capable of carrying a greater weapons load.
In 1977, HMAS MELBOURNE brought her A-4Gs to the Solent to participate in the HM
The Queen's Spithead Silver Jubilee Fleet review.
Douglas A-4K Skyhawk
75 Squadron, Royal New Zealand Air Force, June 1969
FROG, 1/72. Link to build page
The RNZAF replaced their small force of Canberras with the Skyhawk in 1969. With
regular technological updates, including fitting of an F-16 type radar under project
Kahu, these versatile and capable aircraft gave valuable service until 2001 when
the NZ government decided to abandon their combat aircraft force.
Bristish Aerospace AV-8S Matador
Esc 008 Armada Espaniola (Spanish Navy) 1976
ESCI, 1/72. Link to build page
The Spanish Navy was quick to grasp the potential of the Harrier at sea, deploying
the AV-8S Matador from their WW2 era wooden decked carrier, SNS DEDALO long before
the RN adopted the Sea Harrier.