g38 From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 209 posts, RR: 0 Posted (4 months 3 weeks 3 days 1 hour ago) and read 6203 times:
I found this while browsing YouTube and knew I had to share it.
The video is of a Saab Viggen landing. Once the aircraft lands, the pilot selects full reverse thrust, using this to turn the aircraft 180 degrees on the runway (I'm pretty sure he's skidding the nose wheel when he does this), and then he take off again in the opposite direction. The whole procedure take only 1 minute.... truly amazing!!!
I've never heard of other aircraft being able to do this, but I'd love to be proved wrong.
Dreadnought From United States of America, joined Feb 2008, 7761 posts, RR: 22 Reply 1, posted (4 months 3 weeks 3 days ago) and read 6175 times:
Quoting g38 (Thread starter): Once the aircraft lands, the pilot selects full reverse thrust, using this to turn the aircraft 180 degrees on the runway (I'm pretty sure he's skidding the nose wheel when he does this), and then he take off again in the opposite direction.
Looking at related videos, it seems it was a common stunt at airshows with the Viggen.
francoflier From France, joined Oct 2001, 3195 posts, RR: 10 Reply 3, posted (4 months 3 weeks 2 days 7 hours ago) and read 5939 times:
Isn't the video slightly accelerated?
Impressive feature, however.
I can't think of any other fighters fitted with reversers. Then again not every fighter is designed to operate from public highways...
Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit posting...
g38 From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 209 posts, RR: 0 Reply 6, posted (4 months 3 weeks 1 day ago) and read 5587 times:
Quoting celestar (Reply 4): .
How good in terms of combat maneuverability is Viggen?
I think it is very capable from a air-ground attack role but not sure about air-to-air?
Extremely! The Viggen was (is... there's actually still one flying) extremely agile. Thanks to the canards it was agile while still being rather fast due to the delta wing design.
In addition I seem to recall reading that due to some sort of honeycomb structure in the wings it could handle up to 11Gs (as if the pilot could )
A shot of the sole airworthy example showing the design of the wings:
celestar From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 7, posted (4 months 2 weeks 5 days 15 hours ago) and read 5173 times:
Well then, is there a good reason why they are being retired? Replaced by Grippen, I think.
Pardon my ignorance, for a neutral country like Sweden, their unique weapon should serve them for a long time provided they are well maintained.
g38 From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 209 posts, RR: 0 Reply 8, posted (4 months 2 weeks 5 days 12 hours ago) and read 5136 times:
Simple. The Gripen is more versatile.
The Gripen is more of a modern multirole fighter. After all the Viggen was designed in the late '60s.
The Grippen can carry a wider array of weapons, and has much more advanced avionics/weapon systems allowing it to perform multiple missions in a single sortie.
The grippen also has a2a refueling capability, something the Viggen lacked. Its also quite a bit cheaper to operate.
celestar From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 9, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 days 22 hours ago) and read 4940 times:
Recently I am very fascinated by anything Swedish, may be it is because I am getting myself ready for a new Volvo V60!
Curious to know, apart from my net surfing, I cannot find any incident where modern Swedish fighter, Draken/Viggen/Gripen involved in an actual air-to-air combat. Is this true? Quite 'sad', never had a chance to see how well these Swedish birds actually performed!!
As I understand it Sweden was very careful in aurthorising arms exports only to countries that they thought could be trusted not to go on a military rampage through their neighbors. Therefore it is less likely that the owner of Swedish combat jets be the aggressor in a conflict and thus the likelihood of the jets seeing combat is lower. If the cold war had turned hot, many Swedish jets would have seen action though.
celestar From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 11, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 days 19 hours ago) and read 4915 times:
So, am I right to say, none of the Swedish air force or for that matter, the Swedish armed forces in general, has any actual combat experience per say. It is good about deterrence but any armed forces that lack actual combat experience or deployment is not healthy to put their training into actual test and refined upon them.
GST From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 927 posts, RR: 0 Reply 12, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 days 11 hours ago) and read 4843 times:
I don't know about calling any military unhealthy due to it not having seen combat in the service times of it's members. So long as sufficient investment is put into realistic training, you learn from the mistakes of others who do go to war, and up to scratch equipment you should be competative.
True there is not going to be anything like combat, but the rank and file of any military gets completely renewed in a fairly short timeframe. You don't have to be very many years without combat before only senior NCOs and higher ranking officers have truly smelled the cordite so to speak.
B777LRF From Luxembourg, joined Nov 2008, 998 posts, RR: 3 Reply 13, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 days 6 hours ago) and read 4782 times:
The Swedish Air Force was part of the airborne operation over Libya in 2010. They dispatched a handful of Gripen's, which were used solely on reconnaissance and BDA missions. So while the SAF has seen 'action', they have yet to let loose a shot in anger so to speak.
Sweden is still a non-aligned country, with a long tradition of maintaining neutrality. Bit like Switzerland, really, but without the poncy guards at the Vatican. Also in contrast with Switzerland they have been adjusting their stance on neutrality rather more fundamentally, and have taken part in missions other than UN sanctioned peace keeping since the Balkan conflicts. Libya, however, was the first time the SAF took part in an war.
From receips and radials over straight pipes to big fans - been there, done that, got the hearing defects to prove
LARSHJORT From Denmark, joined Dec 2007, 1216 posts, RR: 0 Reply 14, posted (4 months 2 weeks 3 days 5 hours ago) and read 4766 times:
Quoting GST (Reply 12): I don't know about calling any military unhealthy due to it not having seen combat in the service times of it's members. So long as sufficient investment is put into realistic training, you learn from the mistakes of others who do go to war, and up to scratch equipment you should be competative.
I would at any time prefer the air force of my country didn't have any combat experience.
Quoting B777LRF (Reply 13): Sweden is still a non-aligned country, with a long tradition of maintaining neutrality. Bit like Switzerland, really, but without the poncy guards at the Vatican. Also in contrast with Switzerland they have been adjusting their stance on neutrality rather more fundamentally, and have taken part in missions other than UN sanctioned peace keeping since the Balkan conflicts. Libya, however, was the first time the SAF took part in an war.
Libya was the second time after WWII the Swedish Air Force saw combat. During the Congo crisis in the early sixties they paricipated in the UN peacekeeping mission with a squadron of J29 Tunnan aircraft, and shot down several aircraft.
thunderboltdrgn From Sweden, joined Jan 2012, 124 posts, RR: 0 Reply 15, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 16 hours ago) and read 4605 times:
Quoting GST (Reply 12): So, am I right to say, none of the Swedish air force or for that matter, the Swedish armed forces in general, has any actual combat experience per say. It is good about deterrence but any armed forces that lack actual combat experience or deployment is not healthy to put their training into actual test and refined upon them.
Swedish army have a smaller force in Afghanistan, which is why it was
"necessary" for the government to purchase a bunch of Blackhawk helicopters.
The Navy however have been a bit more busy during 70's-90's by chasing
intruding submarines. Of which U137/S-363 is the most well known intrusion.
TGIF From Sweden, joined Apr 2008, 273 posts, RR: 0 Reply 16, posted (4 months 2 weeks 1 day 11 hours ago) and read 4547 times:
Quoting thunderboltdrgn (Reply 15): The Navy however have been a bit more busy during 70's-90's by chasing
intruding submarines. Of which U137/S-363 is the most well known intrusion.
The Swedish navy has also been deployed more recently, to the Gulf of Aden chasing pirates. There was also talks by the opposition in Sweden about sending the navy to Libya during the Arab Spring instead on the Gripens, but luckily that didn't go through. They would have been able to contribute far less than the SwAF did.
Quoting B777LRF (Reply 13): The Swedish Air Force was part of the airborne operation over Libya in 2010. They dispatched a handful of Gripen's, which were used solely on reconnaissance and BDA missions. So while the SAF has seen 'action', they have yet to let loose a shot in anger so to speak.
They were also there to make sure the no-fly zone was in fact a no-fly zone. Photos of the Gripens participating show them fitted with both IRIS-T and AMRAAM. None fired though from what I heard.
As for the thrust reversers I guess the Gripen could achieve the desired stop distance as well as turn radius without having them fitted.
celestar From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, RR: 0 Reply 20, posted (4 months 1 week 6 days 14 hours ago) and read 4229 times:
I have no issue believing how well train the Swedish armed forces are. However, is there any record of actual performance in mock combat with other air force? Did they ever participate Red Flag or something like that? Any record?
thunderboltdrgn From Sweden, joined Jan 2012, 124 posts, RR: 0 Reply 21, posted (4 months 1 week 6 days 9 hours ago) and read 4169 times:
Quoting celestar (Reply 20): I have no issue believing how well train the Swedish armed forces are. However, is there any record of actual performance in mock combat with other air force? Did they ever participate Red Flag or something like that? Any record?
Air force have participated i Red flag events with rumours of very good performance
although I am far from an expert in the matter. However I don't think any results are
available for regular public so I don't know if the rumours are true.
Also the Swedish submarine HMS Gotland were stationed in San Diego
for a while during exercises with the US Navy.
HMS Gotland did very well and did manage to sneak through the carrier defence group
to take close up pictures of the carrier which indicated that the carrier had been sunk.
moriarty From Sweden, joined Jan 2006, 159 posts, RR: 0 Reply 23, posted (4 months 1 week 5 days 8 hours ago) and read 4009 times:
I've seen the Viggen perform this up-close while doing my military service. A truly awesome sight I must say.The Viggen, as mentioned, did this on almost every airshow. Why? Because it can of course.
The thrust reverse comes from a time when Swedens defense was designed to use road bases (ordinary roads prepared for airbase activities). In event of war, airbases could be abandoned and road bases spread across the country to be used instead. This called for a way to get the 16 tonne aircraft to stop in a short distance. 800 meter I think was the distance it was supposed to handle.
When it comes to dog fighting capabilities they are, as guessed, limited given the size and weight, but certainly not bad at all. Later versions had upgraded engine and avionics that, combined with datalink capabilities made it a quite potent fighter all in all.
As a side note, reversing could be pre-selected in flight. It was then activated by nose-wheel touching the ground. The successor, JAS 39 Gripen does not need thrust reversing, it's lighter weight combined with the use of all controlsurfaces for added drag and friction makes it stop in a very short distance too.
Quote: In addition to U.S. aircraft, Netherlands' F-16s, Singapore's F-16s and Sweden's Gripens will participate.
25 olle: Viggen was originally created as a attack version AJ carrying atomic bombs for soviet naval harbours in the baltics. In early 80s there was a fighter
26 kiwirob: I hope you wait a couple of months before ordering, the V60 facelift has just been announced, the major plus in my opinion is the new dash and instru
27 VIflyer: Swedish Air Force Gripen's in the Nevada desert http://youtu.be/pnBbBqIKfsA http://youtu.be/aoEmeJCtsc4 Vi
28 olle: In the video you see how the gripen uses its wings to decrease speed compared to the reverse system on the viggen. The idea is the same... Stop on sho
29 tommytoyz: Yes, this makes aircraft carriers and naval aviation as we know it today - obsolete. The Swedish sub was on lease by the US Navy to try and develop d
30 olle: By the way the draken from mid 60s and viggen system together with STRIL was the first airplanes with datalink... Viggen was also the first airplane t
Sponsor Message: 
From United States of America, joined Oct 2009, 209 posts, 
From Sweden, joined Feb 2004, 993 posts, 
From France, joined Oct 2001, 3195 posts, 
From Singapore, joined Jul 2001, 245 posts, 
From Australia, joined Jun 2006, 207 posts, 
)
From United Kingdom, joined Jun 2008, 927 posts, 
From Luxembourg, joined Nov 2008, 998 posts, 
From Denmark, joined Dec 2007, 1216 posts, 
Sponsor Message: 
Printer friendly format
