Saab JA37 Viggen (Thunderbolt)

Supersonic Strike Fighter / Interceptor Aircraft [ 1968 ]

After 34 years of faithful service to the nation of Sweden, the Saab JA37 Viggen supersonic fighter was replaced by the advanced Saab JAS Gripen multi-role performer in 2005.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 07/23/2021 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

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The Swedish Saab JA 37 "Viggen" ("Thunderbolt") was yet another milestone aircraft design for the Scandinavian nation strictly adhering to a policy of indigenous design, development, and production of its various frontline military weapons. The aircraft - a true multirole fighter for its time- was designed from the outset to be as "battlefield friendly" as possible, capable of utilizing the Swedish network of highways as emergency runways and could further be serviced (refueled and rearmed) by a team of just seven - even with six being conscript-level personnel. To this battlefield survivability was added an advanced onboard computer that negated the need for a second crewman onboard to act as a dedicated radar operator, allowing internal volume to be used on fuel and avionics. Rounding out the requirements was a folding vertical tail fin which decreased the aircraft's side profile and allowed it to be housed in the various underground hangars positioned strategically about the country. If the Soviet Union was to invade, Sweden would have been ready.

The Viggen appeared per a Swedish Air Force requirement to succeed the Saab "Draken" as frontline interceptor/fighter with the inherent strike capabilities of the outgoing Saab 32 "Lansen" series. Work on what would become the Viggen was actually started as early as 1952 and evolved throughout the decade before being approved during December of 1961 by the government. The initial guise was to encompass a strike platform and this model was to be followed by a reconnaissance-minded variant and then an all-weather fighter/interceptor offering with exceptional performance and handling. A prototype first flew on February 8th, 1967 and proved the rather unorthodox design highly sound. The following April, serial production was ordered under the "Viggen" name and introduction occurred on June 21st, 1971.

Like the Saab Draken before it (detailed elsewhere on this site) the Viggen was required to operate from short runways. To help generate the needed lift in short order, the aircraft was given a large-area "canard delta" design wing planform with forward mounted canard foreplanes located to either side of the intake openings. While fixed in place, the canards featured trailing edge flaps and aided both lift and high-speed agility. To this was added a single powerful afterburning turbofan engine - the American Pratt & Whitney JT8D-22 series which powered Boeing 737s. The engine was license-built locally by Volvo Flygmotor as the "RM8" though the afterburner component was of an all-Swedish development. Additionally, the aircraft could be outfitted with rockets for power-assisted take-offs allowing the aircraft to get airborne quickly. Landings were shortened by way of a thrust reverser feature in the engine mated to the nose landing gear leg to work at slowing the aircraft down. The HUD (Head-Up Display) not only served to report pertinent mission details and weapon settings but also assisted the pilot during landings. The undercarriage was reinforced for the abuses of unprepared airstrips with the main legs featuring unique tandem wheels while the nose leg fitted a dual-wheel arrangement - something of a rarity for non-carrier, non-naval fighter aircraft.©MilitaryFactory.com

The large-area wing surface served to provide six underwing/under fuselage hardpoints for the carrying of air-to-air and air-to-surface ordnance. A single 30mm Oerlikon KCA cannon was fitted for close-in work and allotted 150 rounds of ammunition. A typical weapons load became 2 x RB71 "Skyflash" short-range air-to-air missiles and 4 x AIM-120 AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missiles.

The RM8 engine outputted at 16,200lbf on dry thrust and 28,110lbf with afterburning. This provided the aircraft with a maximum speed of Mach 2.1 - or 1,385 miles per hour - when running at an altitude of 36,100 feet. Range was out to 1,245 miles and the aircraft sported a service ceiling of 59,100 feet. Rate-of-climb was an impressive 40,025 feet per minute - a good quality for an interceptor-minded airframe.

The initial production version of the Viggen was the AJ 37 which served in the single-seat ground attack role while retaining fighter capabilities. The aircraft were delivered from 1971 onwards and fitted the RM8A engine with Ericsson PS-37/A series radar in the nose. Saab provided the navigation/attack computer hardware and software for this model as well as the HUD system. The SK 37 served as a two-seat trainer and appeared from 1973 onwards while lacking the radar seen in the AJ 37 mount. The SF 37 was a single-seater and used in the photographic-reconnaissance role which saw the radar system in the nose replaced by a battery of cameras. The SH 37 was used for the maritime patrol role with over-water strike capabilities built in. These aircraft appeared from 1975 onwards.

The JA 37 became the definitive (and final) Viggen production form. These were single-seat interceptors retaining their strike capabilities and first appeared in 1979. The model carried the Ericsson PS-46/A "Look Down/Shoot Down" Doppler multimode radar suite supporting missile armament. The RM8B engine was an uprated design and there proved a slight revision of the canard foreplanes. The last of these was delivered during 1990. The JA 37C were JA 37 models upgraded with new flight software and avionics for multirole service. Similarly, the JA 37D, numbering 35 aircraft, were JA 37s upgraded with new avionics and software and some 20 JA 37Ds followed, upgraded to the JA 37DI standard featuring more modern PS-46/A radar systems and AIM-120 missile support. The AJS model line were earlier upgraded (AJ 37, SF 37, and SH 37) Viggens to a new standard that introduced modern avionics and software. The modernization took place from 1993 to 1998 and numbered 86 existing airframes.

There also proved some lesser-known models of the Viggen including the SK 37E which served as an Electronic Warfare Aircraft (EWA) trainer platform. This stock was made up of 10 outgoing SK 37 trainer types and were modified from 1998 into 2000. The Saab 37X was to become an export-minded variant of the mainline JA 37 but the initiative fell to naught. The Saab 37E "Eurofighter" was a proposed interceptor competitor for NATO intended to replace outgoing stocks of Lockheed F-104 Starfighters then in service. This project was not furthered into anything tangible.

Total production of Viggens numbered 329 aircraft, a far cry from the original 800+ once envisioned. Production spanned from 1970 to 1990 and the type gave excellent service that spanned some 34 years of the critical and tumultuous Cold War decades. The product was never exported due to strict exportation rules followed by Sweden but the Saab aircraft served 25 total Swedish Air Force squadrons internally during its long, storied tenure. The line was eventually retired on November 25th, 2005 and succeeded directly by the new Saab "Gripen" multirole, lightweight fighter detailed elsewhere on this site.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1968

Origin

Sweden

Status

RETIRED
Not in Service.

Crew

1

Production

329
UNITS

Saab - Sweden

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Sweden (retired)

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Air-to-Air Combat, Fighter
General ability to actively engage other aircraft of similar form and function, typically through guns, missiles, and/or aerial rockets.

✓ Interception
Ability to intercept inbound aerial threats by way of high-performance, typically speed and rate-of-climb.

✓ Ground Attack (Bombing, Strafing)
Ability to conduct aerial bombing of ground targets by way of (but not limited to) guns, bombs, missiles, rockets, and the like.

✓ Special-Mission: Anti-Ship
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy surface elements through visual acquisition, radar support, and onboard weaponry.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

RADAR-CAPABLE

Houses, or can house (through specialized variants), radar equipment for searching, tracking, and engagement of enemy elements.

COUNTERMEASURES

Survivability enhanced by way of onboard electronic or physical countermeasures enacted by the aircraft or pilot/crew.

WING SWEEPBACK

Mainplanes, or leading edges, features swept-back lines for enhanced high-speed performance and handling.

CANARDS

Small foreplanes ahead of the mainplanes reduce wing-loading and / or enhance maneuverability during high angle-of-attack or stall actions.

RUGGED AIRFRAME

Inherent ability of airframe to take considerable damage.

HIGH-SPEED PERFORMANCE

Can accelerate to higher speeds than average aircraft of its time.

HIGH-ALTITUDE PERFORMANCE

Can reach and operate at higher altitudes than average aircraft of its time.

MARITIME OPERATION

Ability to operate over ocean in addition to surviving the special rigors of the maritime environment.

PILOT / CREW EJECTION SYSTEM

Assisted process of allowing its pilot and / or crew to eject in the event of an airborne emergency.

CREWSPACE PRESSURIZATION

Supports pressurization required at higher operating altitudes for crew survival.

ENCLOSED CREWSPACE(S)

Features partially- or wholly-enclosed crew workspaces.

RETRACTABLE UNDERCARRIAGE

Features retracting / retractable undercarriage to preserve aerodynamic efficiency.

Length

51.1 ft
(15.58 m)

Width/Span

34.8 ft
(10.60 m)

Height

19.4 ft
(5.90 m)

Empty Wgt

33,069 lb
(15,000 kg)

MTOW

37,479 lb
(17,000 kg)

Wgt Diff

+4,409 lb
(+2,000 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Saab JA37 Viggen (Thunderbolt) production variant)

monoplane / low-mounted / delta, w canards

Monoplane
Design utilizes a single primary wing mainplane; this represent the most popular mainplane arrangement.

Low-Mounted
Mainplanes are low-mounted along the sides of the fuselage.

Delta with Canards
The delta planform is enhanced by way of canards (small foreplanes) seated ahead of the mainplanes, improving angle-of-attack and low-speed / stall control.

(Structural descriptors pertain to the base Saab JA37 Viggen (Thunderbolt) production variant)

Installed: 1 x Volvo Flygmotor RM8B afterburning turbofan developing 28,110 lb of thrust.

Max Speed

1,320 mph
(2,125 kph | 1,147 kts)

Ceiling

60,007 ft
(18,290 m | 11 mi)

Range

1,243 mi
(2,000 km | 3,704 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

32,000 ft/min
(9,754 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Saab JA37 Viggen (Thunderbolt) production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

STANDARD:
1 x 30mm Oerlikon KCA internal automatic cannon.

OPTIONAL:
Additional mission-specific ordnance across six hardpoints for:

Rb-74 "Sidewinder", Rb-71 "Sky Flash", or AIM-120 AMRAAM Air-to-air Missiles (AAMs), rocket pods, and / or conventional drop bombs.

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft automatic cannon

Graphical image of an air-to-air missile weapon

Graphical image of a short-range air-to-air missile

Graphical image of a medium-range air-to-air missile

Graphical image of aircraft aerial rockets

Graphical image of an aircraft rocket pod

Graphical image of an aircraft conventional drop bomb munition

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 7

Mounting Points

-

7

5

3

1

2

4

6

-

HARDPOINT(S) KEY:

X

15

13

11

9

7

5

3

1

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

COLOR KEY:

Fuselage Centerline

Fuselage Port/Wingroot

Fuselage Starboard/Wingroot

Wing/Underwing

Wingtip Mount(s)

Internal Bay(s)

Not Used

Note: Diagram above does not take into account inline hardpoints (mounting positions seated one-behind-the-other).

"Aircraft System 37" - Initial Developmental Project Model Designation.

AJ 37 - Basic Attack Platform Designation.

S 37 - Reconnaissance Variant Designation.

JA 37 - All-Weather Fighter Model Designation.

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Image of the Saab JA37 Viggen (Thunderbolt)

Image from the United States Department of Defense imagery database.

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