page_title: Saab 35 Draken
section_title: Operational history
hierarchical_section_title: Saab 35 Draken / Operational history
caption_attribution_description: Saab S 35XD (N217FR) operated by the National Test Pilot School takes off from the Mojave Spaceport
context_page_description: The Saab 35 Draken is a Swedish fighter aircraft developed and manufactured by Saab between 1955 and 1974. It was the first fully supersonic aircraft to be deployed in Western Europe and the first aircraft to do the Cobra maneuver.
  The Draken was developed during the 1940s and 1950s to replace Sweden's first generation of jet-powered fighter aircraft, the Saab J 29 Tunnan and, later, the fighter variant of the Saab 32 Lansen. It featured an innovative double delta wing; in order to test this previously-unexplored aerodynamic feature, a sub-scale test aircraft, the Saab 210, was produced and flown. Developed in Sweden, the Draken was introduced into service with the Swedish Air Force on 8 March 1960 under the designation J 35, the prefix J standing for Jakt which translates to pursuit. Early models were intended purely to perform air defence missions, the type being considered to be a capable dogfighter for the era.
  The Draken functioned as an effective supersonic fighter aircraft of the Cold War period. In Swedish service, it underwent several upgrades, the ultimate of these being the J 35J model.
context_section_description: At the end of 1959, deliveries of the J 35A Draken commenced to the SAF, the first unit to receive the type being fighter wing F13, stationed at Norrköping. During March 1960, the Drakens of unit F13 participated in a three-day long exercise, flying by night and day while operating under a state of "highest readiness" throughout. According to Flight International, the introduction to service of the J 35A was "very smooth", and that the scramble and turn-round times had been found to be "most satisfactory". By the end of 1960, multiple wings had been equipped with the Draken and had attained operational status.
  Although the J 35 Draken was designed as a high altitude interceptor and not as a dog fighter, it proved to have a good quick-turn capability and high speed at all altitudes, making it a very capable fighter plane. The early models were intended purely to perform the air defense mission. However, in order to assist pilots in converting to the type, Saab produced a small number of twin-seat J 35C trainer aircraft, the first of which having been completed during December 1959. During 1959, an improved air defence fighter model, designated as the J 35B, was developed, which featured improved performance and equipment over the J 35A. Amongst other things, it was powered by an improved engine fitted with an enlarged afterburner, a redesigned rear fuselage, a new Saab-built S.7 collision-course gunsight and fire-control radar, and integration with Sweden's STRIL.60 air defence control network.
  Due to a lack of knowledge on the then historically unproven design of the J 35's double delta wing, the plane had a lot of problems at the start of its service life. The unstable design of double delta wings made it difficult to land early versions of the J 35 as they had to be manually stabilized during landing. The design also allowed the plane to enter what the Swedish called "super stalls", which simplified can be described as an uncontrollable stall which appears on planes with specific wing configurations when pulling high alpha numbers. Due to this pilots on the J 35 were trained to prevent super stalls from happening. But out of this training came what is today known as the Cobra maneuver, which starts with an entry into a controlled super stall by pulling high alpha and then quickly pulling negative alpha. This basically makes the plane a full body air brake for a few seconds, which heavily drops the speed. The maneuver, which the Swedish named "kort parad", was used by the J 35 pilots as a combat maneuver to make a pursuing enemy fighter overshoot.
  A total of 651 Drakens were manufactured by Saab. Sweden's fleet of Drakens comprised a total of six different versions, while two additional models of the Draken were offered to prospective export customers. The final model of the Draken to be produced was the J 35F, which was also the final version to remain in Swedish service. Its export customers included Denmark and Finland. In May 1985, the Austrian Air Force purchased 24 J 35Ds, which had been refurbished by Saab.
  The J 35 Draken design underwent several upgrades. The last of these was the J 35J version, which was produced during the late 1980s; by this point, the Draken had been almost entirely replaced by the Saab 37 Viggen in SAF service. The Draken J 35J was effectively a service life extension programme, which had been initiated as a result of the impending delivery of the new Saab JAS 39 Gripen having suffered several delays. The extension program was intended to keep the Draken flying into the 2000s but, as a consequence of budgetary cutbacks and high maintenance costs being incurred with the type, the Draken was phased out of Swedish service in December 1999, although the aircraft has since remained operational in limited numbers within both military and civilian roles.
  All Drakens functioned as interceptors with limited air-to-ground capability; the sole exception to this rule was the Danish Drakens, which functioned as strike aircraft and were capable of carrying a mixture of AGM-12 Bullpup air-to-ground missi
caption: Ex-RDAF RF-35XD N217FR operated by the National Test Pilot School takes off from the Mojave Spaceport.
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