Sweden’s Saab 37 Viggen vs. Mach 3 SR-71 Blackbird: Who will win?
In a 19FortyFive article I wrote today Regarding the legendary Finnish sniper Simo Häyhä, I noted the fact that Finland’s pending entry into NATO is causing a lot of crying and gnashing of teeth on the part of besieged Russian President Vladimir Putin. An equal degree of discombobulation is inflicted on Comrade Vlad by the pending entry into NATO for Finland’s Scandinavian brother country Sweden. While Sweden has not participated in an officially declared war since Swedish-Norwegian War 1814that the Nordic nation has nevertheless continued to produce very capable armed forces with very capable weapon systems … such as Saab 37 Viggen hunting plan.
Viggens vavoom
The moniker Viggen has a double meaning in Swedish, which derives from both thunderstorm—“thunderbolt” – and “tufted duck“The Swedes’ words for” tuftanka “, with reference to it canard configuration as canard is French for “duck”. (No, there is nothing to suggest that any of these were the inspiration for the actor Viggo Mortensen’s name.) But unlike Daffy, Disney’s Donald or the lovable mascot from the AFLAC commercial, this Swedish air force duck was downright deadly.
On its maiden flight in February 1967, the fighter plane officially entered the service of the Swedish Air Force in 1971. It was, as noted by 19FortyFive Senior editor Peter Suciu, “the first Canard-designed aircraft mass-produced, and at the time of its introduction it was also the most advanced fighter aircraft in Europe and remained so until the Panavia Tornado was launched in 1981 … The Saab 37 had the award to be the first aircraft with both afterburners and traction converters – a feature later seen in Tornado and Concorde commercial aircraft. ”
Sweden’s strict policy of neutrality – remember, they are only now seriously considering joining NATO – despite the fact that the nation’s military and political leaders were well prepared for a possible war with the Soviet Union during the cold days of the Cold War, and Viggen was part of the preparation.
The Deadly Duck Meets the Busted Blackbird
Needless to say, the Cold War never flared up into a hot war, so the Saab 37 never saw battle. But Viggen still cemented her place in history in January 1986 when she almost became the first warbird to shoot down the world’s fastest aircraft, SR-71 Blackbird. Viggen even got missile locks and visual contact, via a frontal game with a chicken-like approach (because a tail hunt would have been in vain). The Swedish The Air Force (Air Force) pilot named Per-Olof Eldh almost became the first war bird to shoot down the world’s fastest aircraft, the legendary SR-71 Per-Olof Eldh – now retired colonel –who described his experience as such:
“From my height of 8,000 m I accelerated to Mach 1.35 and then pulled up, very carefully, continued to accelerate to between Mach 1.7 and Mach 2.0, and topped at between 18,500 and 20,000 m. All target data was on my map display, including radar detection of the target at maximum distance, which then locked immediately afterwards. I simulated missile launches – the closing speed was very high, between Mach 4.5 and 5.0; The SR-71 flew at Mach 2.98 and 21,500m … I had visual contact … In total I have five hot intercepts against the SR-71 to my credit. Everyone can be described as successful. I was visual three times; on a couple of occasions the SR-71 was winding, which was very useful because you could do a visual check to make sure you ended up in the right place!”
Fortunately, for the sake of US-Swedish relations, Colonel Eldh never opened fire! In 1987, an SR-71 swerved off course into Swedish airspace and sank dramatically due to a broken engine. In this case, the Saab 37 pilots gave the besieged Blackbird pilot a safety card until it safely left Swedish airspace. That assignment would not be declassified until 30 years later, in 2017, which would lead to the award of US Air Medal to the Swedish pilots the following year.
Swan song for Canard
Viggen retired in 2005, was replaced by Saabs JAS 39 Gripen. Of the 329 built specimens, fewer than 20 survive today, mostly in foreign aviation and military museums, but the number is enough so that the plane is not forgotten.
Specifications:
Crew: 1
Length: 16.4 m (53 feet 10 inches)
Wingspan: 10.6 m (34 ft 9 inches)
Height: 5.9 m (19 ft. 4 inches)
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))[134]
Max starting weight: 19 274 kg (42 492 lb)
Arming: 1 × 30 mm Oerlikon KCA cannon with 125 shots; 9 hard tips (three under the fuselage and three under each wing) with a capacity of 7,000 kg, with equipment to carry missile combinations of either 4 x RB99 AMRAAM (YES 37D), 2 x RB71 Skyflash (JA37 only) or 6 x AIM -9 Sidewinder or 4 rocket skis (135 mm, 5.4 inches)
Christian D. Orr is a former Air Force officer, federal law enforcement official and private military contractor (with assignments working in Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Kosovo, Japan, Germany and the Pentagon). Chris holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Southern California (USC) and an MA in Intelligence Studies (Concentration in Terrorism Studies) from American Military University (AMU). He has also been published in The Daily Torch and Journal of Intelligence and Cyber Security.