Swedish Air Force Jet Fighter Sledging

[Gutter Monkey]

"The video surfaced on the web and shows what's believed to be the Swedish Air Force involved in extreme sledging behind a fighter jet! Although a seemingly dangerous stunt we're told they took all necessary precautions."



According to this article the jet is a Saab Viggen, but I thought they were retired back in '07. Old video or faked video?

[One-Fang]

The plane's hardly putting out full throttle, but don't jet engines pump a lot of very hot air out behind them? It does rather look as if, at this speed, it's probably not as dangerous as you'd think (but then, I don't know that much about planes).

[Troberg]

Yep, that's a J37 Viggen, which places the video in Sweden as it's not used by anyone else (I have no idea why, it was a really good fighter for it's time and outperformed most of the competition).

It was not going very fast, and it was an open area, so I don't see any real risk involved, apart from the pilot risking his license. If it had gone at top speed, mach 2.1 (actually, the true top speed is not known, as it accelerated until it ran out of fuel, which happened very quickly at full afterburner), I suppose it would have been a bit riskier.

As for the backlast, at that speed, it's not a problem, especially as the guys behind it wore a lot of clothes.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Troberg

Yep, that's a J37 Viggen, which places the video in Sweden as it's not used by anyone else (I have no idea why, it was a really good fighter for it's time and outperformed most of the competition).

The Swedish Govt didn't help by not exporting arms to non-democratic countries. Buyers were also wary of a withdrawal of support from the Swedish Govt in the event of involvement in conflicts deemed by them to be unethical. However, the main problem for smaller countries trying to sell superior aircraft on the world market was the USA. Between diplomatic pressure and licensing issues, the US did a marvellous job of thwarting the export strategy of foreign military aircraft. The very same tactics combined with our own Govt effectively vapourised the proud UK military Aviation industry.

[Cyrano]

On the other hand, the Viggen's predecessor the Draken was sold to a few countries (Finland, Denmark and later on, Austria) ant its successor the Gripen sells pretty well (the Czech Republic, Hungary, South Africa and Thailand, Switzerland being very interested), due to its excellent performance and reasonable price.

I remember Switzerland evaluated the Viggen in the early 70's but eventually purchased the Northtrop F-5E Tiger II which was much cheaper (but not better) at the time.

[Jay Tea]

Originally Posted by Cyrano

On the other hand, the Viggen's predecessor the Draken was sold to a few countries (Finland, Denmark and later on, Austria) ant its successor the Gripen sells pretty well.

I should have added that the primary decades of this US wing-clipping were the 60s and 70s. In modern times the arms industry is truly global and a veritable melting pot of unethical mutual back-scratchers. These days a country might sell its best jet to anybody else, though of course they'll withhold an avionics suite or weapons system or two, just to keep Govts happy

[Floater]

The plane has no air force markings on it, so I suppose it belongs to the air force museum.

[GenYus234]

Originally Posted by Troberg

It was not going very fast, and it was an open area, so I don't see any real risk involved, apart from the pilot risking his license.

Depending on where they were, there was a risk of ingesting a foreign object into the turbine.

[Troberg]

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

The Swedish Govt didn't help by not exporting arms to non-democratic countries. Buyers were also wary of a withdrawal of support from the Swedish Govt in the event of involvement in conflicts deemed by them to be unethical.

Actually, the law was, and still is, that we can't sell weapons to nations at war (or nations expected to go to war). Yep, it's a bit odd.

Originally Posted by Jay Tea

However, the main problem for smaller countries trying to sell superior aircraft on the world market was the USA. Between diplomatic pressure and licensing issues, the US did a marvellous job of thwarting the export strategy of foreign military aircraft. The very same tactics combined with our own Govt effectively vapourised the proud UK military Aviation industry.

Yep, you either aligned yourself with Comrade East or Corporation West, and then you bought their products. Not much middle ground for independent nations.

Originally Posted by Floater

The plane has no air force markings on it, so I suppose it belongs to the air force museum.

Good catch!

Originally Posted by GenYus234

Depending on where they were, there was a risk of ingesting a foreign object into the turbine.

Not really, they were on an airfield. Besides, J37 is designed for field conditions, and in the case of war, will use road strips as airfields. Add to that that, like all Swedish aircraft, it's designed to be robust and take punishment.