Sweden’s Air Force Marks 100 Years of Service

At the start of this month, the Swedish air force (SwAF), or Flygvapnet, celebrated its centenary. Sweden created the independent service on July 1, 1926, by merging the air services of its army and navy.

Since 1994, the SwAF has been subordinate to an overall joint forces command, but it continues to maintain its own strong identity. Having experienced cycles of growth and decline over the decades as a result of geopolitical influences, the service is once again on the rise in response to the growing Russian threat to Europe.

Growth was leisurely in Flygvapnet’s early years, gaining urgency in the late 1930s and early 1940s. During the Cold War, the SwAF grew to its largest size, and with it, the Swedish aviation industry blossomed. Sweden was the first nation in Europe to boast a swept-wing jet fighter (J 29 Tunnan), an in-service Mach 2 fighter (J 35 Draken), and a multirole fighter with a central computer (AJ 37 Viggen).

With the end of the Cold War came a dramatic drawdown, while Sweden began increasing its participation in multinational operations in places such as Afghanistan and Mali, culminating in JAS 39 Gripens flying fighter escort and reconnaissance missions during Operation Unified Protector over Libya in 2011. This was the SwAF’s first taste of fighter operations since UN missions were undertaken by J 29s over Congo in the early 1960s.

Russia’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, further underlined by the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, reversed the SwAF's downward trajectory. Having remained neutral—although naturally West-leaning since the 1940s and a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace program since the 1990s—Sweden became a full NATO member in 2024.

As a result of growing tension within Europe and its new NATO membership, Sweden has embarked on a re-equipment process with considerably larger budgets. A major procurement program is underway to refresh Flygvapnet’s inventory, enhance its capabilities, and better prepare it for an uncertain future.

Sweden’s New Fighter

Leading the way is the Saab JAS 39E Gripen. While superficially similar to the JAS 39C that has been Flygvapnet’s sole combat aircraft since the last Viggen retired in 2005, the 39E is a much improved aircraft with a more powerful engine, greater range, and the ability to carry a heavier payload. Under the skin, it is a very different beast, with a Raven AESA radar and a new system architecture that allows it to be rapidly upgraded without affecting flight software.

Sweden has 60 JAS 39Es on order, the first of which was officially handed over to the SwAF on Oct. 20, 2025. The first squadron is the 72nd Fighter Squadron, part of F7 at Såtenäs, which is in the early stages of training crew and working up. By the end of the year, 12 JAS 39Es are due to have been delivered.

A squadron of F21 at Luleå in Sweden’s far north is to become the second Gripen E unit, although plans beyond that have not been announced. Possibilities are a second squadron in F7 (the 71st) or a JAS 39E unit for Flygvapnet’s other Gripen base at Ronneby in the south.

In the meantime, the JAS 39C forms the backbone of the combat force, and under current plans, a number will be retained for many years to come. Whether the three Gripen wings ultimately each have one C squadron and one with Es, or two of the same version, has yet to be fully decided.

Further procurement is likely, especially if plans to donate up to 16 Gripen C/Ds to Ukraine reach fruition. Plans for remedying the SwAF’s resulting shortfall are under discussion.

Partnering the Gripen on air defense duties will be the S 106A, an airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) aircraft based on the Bombardier Global 6000 airframe and marketed as the GlobalEye. Sweden ordered two in 2022 with two options, one of which it took up in 2024. The fourth is likely to be ordered, especially if the proposal for a Nordic AEW unit is approved. Saab has already acquired a green aircraft for conversion.

Backing Ukraine 

In the SwAF service, the S 106A will replace the two hard-working S 100D/ASC890 Argus aircraft that Sweden is gifting to Ukraine next year, bringing forward the required service entry for the S 106A. The first two will be delivered next year with an interim—yet still highly capable—mission system fit. The third is due to be handed over in 2029 to the full specification. The first two will subsequently cycle through the workshop to be brought up to a similar standard.

Preceding the S 106As, the SwAF has recently taken delivery of two more Globals, in this case 6500s, which are similar to the 6000s but with improved engines. Designated TP 106B, their task is VVIP transport, including for members of the royal family and high-ranking politicians. As such, they will be based at a facility at Stockholm Arlanda Airport, Sweden’s principal international airport.

Delivery of the pair occurred in May and was formally announced on June 1. The 75th State Aircraft Squadron that operates them is parented by the F7 wing at Såtenäs, but that will change to the 165th Squadron of the recently re-commissioned F16 at Uppsala, north of Stockholm.

Under original plans, Uppsala was to regain its status as a base for a fourth fighter wing, and is being extensively upgraded. However, F16 will not—under current plans—have fighter squadrons, but will parent the operations of both Global variants. It will be the primary base for the S 106s, but they will also operate from the facility at Arlanda in certain weather conditions. Uppsala will be fully capable of supporting combat aircraft and will be a useful reserve base for the SwAF, as well as for fighter units visiting from other NATO allies.

Rounding out the special-mission inventory is a pair of heavily modified Gulfstream IV-SPs (S 102B Korpen) that have been used to collect signals intelligence since 1997, operating from Malmen with the 74th Special Flight Squadron. In recent years, they have operated along the Polish and Romanian borders and over the Black Sea in support of Ukraine, including missions from Bucharest. In 2018 and 2019, a Swedish Gulfstream operated from Larnaca, Cyprus, along the eastern Mediterranean coast. In addition to their regular tasks of monitoring Russian activity in the Baltic, they have flown missions over northern Finland.

Transports, Training, and Helicopters

Sweden’s other major procurement program is the Embraer C-390 multirole aircraft, with four on order and seven options as part of a joint buy with Austria and the Netherlands. Breaking with tradition, the C-390 will be officially designated as such and will not receive the Sweden-specific “TP 107” type designation.

They will operate from Såtenäs, where a simulator is due for completion in 2029 to permit type conversion to be undertaken in Sweden. The initial cadre of C-390 crews begins training later this year, with first delivery planned for 2028. There are no plans, however, to retire the six TP 84/C-130 Hercules, which continue to provide good service, especially on special forces tasks.

To answer strategic transport/tanking requirements, Sweden participates in the Heavy Airlift Wing program, with access to the three Boeing C-17s based in Hungary, as well as the Multinational MRTT Force. The nation joined the latter in 2025 along with Denmark, resulting in two more A330 MRTTs being ordered for the fleet, which will number 12 by 2029.

For many years, the SwAF conducted all-through jet training with the Saab SK 60, but the retirement of the type in 2024 has heralded a revamp of the training program. Basic training is now conducted in the Grob G120TP (SK 40), after which students are streamed according to intended role. Those destined to fly transports train with the U.S. Navy, while helicopter pilots train with the German army. Fast-jet pilots receive advanced training with the Italian air force, flying the Leonardo M346.

Sweden has requirements for the rotary-wing force. A second order for UH-60M Black Hawks has answered the NH90 troop transport replacement issue, but there is a need for a medium helicopter that can operate from ships, something that the current NH90/HKP 14 cannot do. A new light helicopter is also needed to replace the Leonardo A109/HKP 15s used for training, army support, and maritime duties.

Looking to the future, Sweden launched its Koncept för Framtida Stridsflygplan (KFS, future fighter concept) program in 2023 to examine future combat aircraft and determine the path it should follow. As part of the process, Saab is to fly an uncrewed technology demonstrator next year, intended to inform the decision over whether Sweden should proceed with an indigenous fighter program—along with collaborative combat aircraft—or multinational programs. Sweden originally scheduled a decision for 2030, but may bring that forward. The announcement last month of the collapse of the Franco-German-Spanish FCAS/NGWS program may have a bearing on the Swedish decision.