Gripen Origins

* In the 1970s, the SAAB 37 Viggen began to go into service with the Flygvapnet (Swedish Air Force) as the nation's first-line combat aircraft. Swedish military planners then began to look down the road for a next-generation fighter to follow the Viggen. While US-made aircraft such as the F-16 or F/A-18 were considered, the Swedes had proven capable of building their own first-class fighter aircraft, tailored precisely to their specifications -- and besides, modifying a foreign aircraft to fit into the tightly-linked Swedish defense network system would have been troublesome.

In 1980, the Swedish Defense Materiel Administration (FMV) issued a requirement to Swedish manufacturers for a next-generation combat aircraft, then known as the "JAS (Jakt, Attack, & Spaning / Fighter, Attack, & Reconnaissance)". As the name implied, it was to be a multirole combat aircraft, with excellent performance and high agility to counter new Soviet fighters then going into service. It was to be simpler and cheaper to maintain than the Viggen, and easy to turn around quickly to ensure a high combat sortie rate. Long range was not a requirement, since the Flygvapnet's focus traditional focus was on the defense of Sweden, not power projection.

A consortium named "IndustriGruppen JAS" was formed between SAAB-Scania, Volvo Flygmotor, Ericsson, and Foerenade Fabriksverken (now FFV Aerotech). The group's proposal, with the company designation "SAAB 2110", was accepted in the spring of 1982, with a contract signed in June for five prototypes featuring some modifications from the original proposal, plus an initial production batch of 30 aircraft and an option for 110 more.

* Work on the prototypes began in 1984, with a full-size mockup completed in early 1986. The program ran into technical problems, cost increases, and schedule slips, leading to political pressure for its cancellation and purchase of a foreign aircraft. However, the first single-seat "JAS 39A Gripen (Griffin)" prototype flew on 9 December 1988, with test pilot Stig Holmstroem at the controls, and the controversy faded. Design work on the "JAS 39B" two-seat version for operational conversion training began in 1989.

Unfortunately, the first JAS 39A prototype, the "39-1", was lost on 2 February 1989 due to a software glitch in the flight-control system. The aircraft became unstable on landing and cartwheeled, with the pilot, Lars Raadstroem, suffering a broken arm. The whole ugly event was filmed and caused a bit of a public sensation. Work on cleaning up the software and fixing engine problems led to additional schedule slips. The problems were resolved, and the second prototype, "39-2", took to the air on 4 May 1990. The third prototype to fly, which was actually designated "39-4" and featured operational avionics but no radar, performed its initial flight on 20 December 1990. The next prototype, the "39-3", was fitted with radar and flew on 25 March 1991; followed by the last of the five prototypes, "39-5", which was close to production spec, and flew on 23 October 1991.

By this time, the bugs had been largely ironed out. The Flygvapnet decided the Gripen had been worth the wait and trouble, since it easily exceeded many of its design specifications -- and the fact that it was pretty didn't hurt. In June 1992, SAAB got the go-ahead for building the two-seat JAS 39B, and the government formally signed off on the option for 110 more Gripens, which were to be built to an improved "Batch 2" standard. The new order included 96 JAS 39As and 14 JAS 39Bs.

The first production Gripen performed its maiden flight on 4 March 1993, with Raadstroem at the controls. The second production item was the first to be handed over formally to the Flygvapnet, with delivery on 8 June 1993. However, the first production machine crashed during a flight demonstration in Stockholm on 8 August 1993, Raadstroem ejecting without serious injury. Once again, the problem turned out to be a glitch in the flight control system software. All the Gripens were grounded until the bug was traced down and fixed.

The first JAS 39B was rolled out on 29 September 1995. It was actually a production-line modification of one of the 30 Batch-1 JAS 39As. The JAS 39A reached initial operational status in 1995 and full operational status in 1997. The first Batch 2 machine was delivered in December 1996, the same month that an order for 64 improved "Batch 3" machines was placed, including 50 single-seat "JAS 39Cs" and 14 two-seat "JAS 39Ds".

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