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Swedish Gripen fighters arrive at Eielson

by 1st Lt. Peter Liander, Swedish Air Force
Cooperative Cope Thunder Public Affairs

7/20/2006 - EIELSON AIR FORCE BASE, Alaska (AFPN) -- The Swedish Air Force endured a long journey to participate in the Pacific Air Forces exercise Cooperative Cope Thunder for the first time.

In a journey that would span more than five days, seven Gripen fighters left Sweden on July 13 for the multinational exercise. The first leg of their trip took them west to the Royal Air Force station at Lossiemouth, Scotland. After being refueled, the next stop was at Keflavik, Iceland.

Two Swedish Air Force C-130 Hercules were used as transportation for ground crew, maintenance equipment and spare parts. The next day the squadron continued to Sondre Stromfjord, an airfield located at the southwest part of Greenland. After a few hours rest, the pilots took off for the next destination, Iqualuit in the northeast corner of Canada.

The journey continued the next day, via Churchill to the Canadian air base Cold Lake. The two remaining legs before reaching Eielson Air Force Base were carried out on July 17. After a short stop at Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada, the Gripen landed as planned at Eielson.

By that time, the Swedish pilots and the 23 technicians from the ground crew had reached a significant milestone -- the distance flown from Sweden was 5,495 nautical miles.

Lt. Col. Ken Lindberg, commanding officer for Tango Red, is proud of the Swedish team's execution of the first phase of this exercise.

"I am very pleased that we arrived at Eielson on time according to our schedule. The personnel have done an excellent job, both in the planning phase and the execution," he said.

"During these past five days we have been operating out of some unusual places. All the while, we were continuously changing time zones," Colonel Lindberg said.

The colonel emphasized the importance of the Swedish Air Force participating in the exercise.

"This is the first time we have taken the Gripen to the U.S. for an exercise and we are looking forward to be a part in this. It will give us a lot of important experiences for future deployment outside Sweden," he said.

Cooperative Cope Thunder is designed to sharpen the combat skills of the participating aviation units. It provides training for deployed maintenance and support personnel in support of large force deployment air operations.

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Here's a pic from the Swedish Air Force's web site http://www.mil.se:

Mike

Elite 1K Joined: Jan 31, 2004 Posts: 1736 Status: Offline

No AR capability? Thought it had that. Confused

Enthusiast Joined: Jul 19, 2006 Posts: 74 Status: Offline

LinkF16SimDude wrote:

No AR capability? Thought it had that. Confused

I don't think Sweden needs it but export versions might have that capability.

The Gripen does have an AR probe. They cant use our age equipment with the gripen because of the types of connections so they have to tow the aircraft up to the t-dome and use the genrators and other equipment they brought here. The white hose is an air hose. These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Rigamortis wrote:

These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Interesting. The SAF must be pretty confident to send brand new, low hour jets.

I got a question for Rigamortis: what's the serial of one of the D models.
The ones known so far are:
249, 251, 253, 255, for Gripen C
and 823, 824 for Gripen D + another D

Scorpion1alpha wrote:

Rigamortis wrote:

These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Interesting. The SAF must be pretty confident to send brand new, low hour jets.

odd they already made a great deal of hours in the Netherlands During Frisian flag and some of their own exercises.

nothing better than the smell of a fresh new cockpit Smile

Elite 2K Joined: Oct 20, 2005 Posts: 2189 Status: Offline

USAF released these three photos:

Original photo caption: JAS 39 Gripen from the Swedish Air Force's Tango Red unit based at Malmen Air Base, Sweden, sit on the flightline at Eielson Air Force, Alaska, on July 18 in preparation for Cooperative Cope Thunder 2006. The combined joint air training exercise provides scenarios that are as realistic as combat within the constraints of the training environment. (USAF photos by Staff Sgt. Joshua Strang)

Note: In the background twelve Vipers from Misawa AB, Japan.

Hi-res version:
http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/ ... 8S-022.jpg

Hi-res version:
http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/ ... 8S-018.jpg

Hi-res version:
http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/ ... 8S-024.jpg

Driver wrote:

Scorpion1alpha wrote:

Rigamortis wrote:

These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Interesting. The SAF must be pretty confident to send brand new, low hour jets.

odd they already made a great deal of hours in the Netherlands During Frisian flag and some of their own exercises.

So are there more hours on these Gripens than the 35-40hrs quoted? I have no idea about these Gripens and going off on what others are stating.

akruse21 wrote:

nothing better than the smell of a fresh new cockpit Smile

Yep, like new cars, I love new aircrafts.

Enthusiast Joined: Jun 09, 2006 Posts: 46 Status: Offline

Driver wrote:

Scorpion1alpha wrote:

Rigamortis wrote:

These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Interesting. The SAF must be pretty confident to send brand new, low hour jets.

odd they already made a great deal of hours in the Netherlands During Frisian flag and some of their own exercises.

This is the first time they use the C/D in exercises abroad, in Holland I think they(SWAFRAP division) used A/B models. The explanation to that the aerial refueling probe is not used is that the pilots has not had time to practice the procedure enough(that´s what I read on some forums in sweden anyway)

It should be interesting to see how the Gripen cope,...

Cheers/ C.

RoAF wrote:

I got a question for Rigamortis: what's the serial of one of the D models.
The ones known so far are:
249, 251, 253, 255, for Gripen C
and 823, 824 for Gripen D + another D

I can answer that.

249, 251, 252, 253, 255
823, 824

5 C and 2 D.

Caprice wrote:

Driver wrote:

Scorpion1alpha wrote:

Rigamortis wrote:

These Gripens only have about 35-40 hrs on them right now. They got them just before they deployed here.

Interesting. The SAF must be pretty confident to send brand new, low hour jets.

odd they already made a great deal of hours in the Netherlands During Frisian flag and some of their own exercises.

This is the first time they use the C/D in exercises abroad, in Holland I think they(SWAFRAP division) used A/B models. The explanation to that the aerial refueling probe is not used is that the pilots has not had time to practice the procedure enough(that´s what I read on some forums in sweden anyway)

It should be interesting to see how the Gripen cope,...

Cheers/ C.

Mostly human factors why the refueling wasn't used. They added hours every day to avoid arriving with jet lag. The On-board oxygene generator and APU is at a 10 hour limit. Refueling 7 jets does take time too. The lack of NATO refuelers on this route. The big load on the jet. Food and toilet breaks. Many small reasons piling up... This is 10200 km away from home remember... Smile

They had no hurry... better make it comfortable. Very Happy

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Swedish Gripen fighters arrive at Eielson