The Quest for Relevant Air Power

292 │ Swedish Air Force
of a fully trained pilot were significantly below NATO’s minimum
requirement. This situation was further aggravated by a
very low pilot-to-aircraft ratio. 72 A parliamentary report published
in 1992 highlights serious shortcomings in training, modern
air-to-air and air-to-ground weapons, and spare parts in
general. 73 Difficulties in generating enough training hours per
combat pilot persisted up to 2001. 74 Hence, it can be argued that
the SwAF’s force structure had actually been overstretched and
only became more stable against the backdrop of Sweden’s increasing
commitment to out-of-area operations.
Table 5. SwAF combat aircraft inventory
Aircraft Type 1990 1997 2001 2005 2012
(planned)
J 35 Draken
72 60 - - -
(air defence)
JA 37 Viggen 139 133 91 - -
(air defence)
AJ/S/AJS/SK 37 147 104 32 19 -
Viggen
(attack, recce,
standoff jamming)
JAS 39A/B Gripen - 37 a 95 124 -
(multirole)
JAS 39C/D Gripen - - - 27 100
(multirole)
SK 60
(training, recce,
CAS)
105 105 b 105 103 ?
Adapted from IISS, The Military Balance 1990–91 (London: Brassey’s for the IISS, 1990), 93; IISS,
The Military Balance 1997–98 (London: Oxford University Press, 1997), 96; IISS, The Military Balance
2001–2002 (Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2001), 100; IISS, The Military Balance
2005–2006 (London: Oxford University Press, 2005), 128; and MOD, Sweden, “A Functional Defence,”
fact sheet, March 2009.
a
Primarily employed in the air defence role. MOD, Regeringens proposition 1996/97:4: Totalförsvar
i förnyelse—etapp 2 [Government defence bill 1996/97:4: renewal of total defence—stage 2] (Stockholm:
MOD, 12 September 1996).
b
In 1996 the SK 60 ceased to be used in the reconnaissance and close air support role. Col Bertil
Wennerholm, SwAF, retired, Stockholm, to the author, e-mail, 11 February 2008.
Emphasis upon Air Power. A 1991 RAND analysis considered
the SwAF to be the most important branch of the Swedish armed
forces, as it would have provided the first line of defence in a highintensity
conflict scenario with the Soviet Union. 75 Viewed from a