The Swedish Air Force ( sv, Svenska flygvapnet or just ) is the

air force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

branch A branch, sometimes called a ramus in botany, is a woody structural member connected to the central trunk (botany), trunk of a tree (or sometimes a shrub). Large branches are known as boughs and small branches are known as twigs. The term '' ...

of the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces ( sv, Försvarsmakten, "the Defense Force") is the government agency that forms the armed forces of Sweden, tasked with the defense of the country as well as with promoting Sweden's wider interests, supporting internati ...

History

The Swedish Air Force was created on 1 July, 1926 when the aircraft units of the Army and Navy were merged. Because of the escalating international tension during the 1930s the Air Force was reorganized and expanded from four to seven squadrons.

World War II

When

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

broke out in 1939 further expansion was initiated and this substantial expansion was not finished until the end of the war. Although Sweden never entered the war, a large air force was considered necessary to ward off the threat of invasion and to resist pressure through military threats from the

great power A great power is a sovereign state that is recognized as having the ability and expertise to exert its influence on a global scale. Great powers characteristically possess military and economic strength, as well as diplomatic and soft power inf ...

s. By 1945 the Swedish Air Force had over 800 combat-ready aircraft, including 15 fighter divisions. A major problem for the Swedish Air Force during World War II was the lack of fuel. Sweden was surrounded by countries at war and could not rely on imported

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

. Instead domestic

oil shale Oil shale is an organic-rich fine-grained sedimentary rock containing kerogen (a solid mixture of organic chemical compounds) from which liquid hydrocarbons can be produced. In addition to kerogen, general composition of oil shales constitute ...

s were heated to produce the needed petrol. About 250 aircrew were killed in crashes 1939-1945 according to statistics that were not disclosed during the war years but published afterwards.

Expansion during the Cold War

The Swedish Air Force underwent a rapid modernization from 1945. It was no longer politically acceptable to equip it with second-rate models. Instead, the Air Staff purchased the best it could find from abroad, e.g.

P-51 The North American Aviation P-51 Mustang is an American long-range, single-seat fighter and fighter-bomber used during World War II and the Korean War, among other conflicts. The Mustang was designed in April 1940 by a team headed by James ...

D Mustangs,

De Havilland Mosquito The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito is a British twin-engined, shoulder-winged, multirole combat aircraft, introduced during the Second World War. Unusual in that its frame was constructed mostly of wood, it was nicknamed the "Wooden Wonder", or ...

NF.19 night fighters and

de Havilland Vampire The de Havilland Vampire is a British jet fighter which was developed and manufactured by the de Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was the second jet fighter to be operated by the Royal Air Force, RAF, after the Gloster Meteor, and ...

s, and supported the development of top performance domestic models. The

Saab 29 Tunnan The Saab 29 ''Tunnan'', colloquially ''Flygande tunnan'' or just ''Tunnan'' ( en, "The flying barrel", "The barrel"),. is a Swedish fighter that was designed and manufactured by Saab in the late 1940s. It was the second turbojet-powered comb ...

jet fighter was introduced around 1950. In the late 1950s the Swedish Air Force introduced the

Bas 60 Bas 60 (''Flygbassystem 60'', Air Base System 60) was an air base system developed and used by the Swedish Air Force during the Cold War. The system was based around defensive force dispersal of aircraft and its supporting ground operations across ...

air base system, which revolved around

force dispersal Force dispersal is the practice of spreading out soldiers and vehicles in an army. It is used to minimize the effects of collateral damage, such as from bombs and artillery, and increases the number of artillery rounds needed to neutralize or des ...

of air squadrons across many wartime air bases in case of war in order to make it complicated for an opponent to destroy the air force on the ground. Road runways were also introduced as backup runways. Bas 60 was developed further into

Bas 90 Bas 90 (''Flygbassystem 90'', Air Base System 90) was an air base system used by the Swedish Air Force during the Cold War. Bas 90 was developed during the 1970s and 1980s from the existing Bas 60 system in response to the new threats and needs th ...

during the 1970s and 1980s. During the

Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...

large amounts of money (including funds intended for the Swedish nuclear weapons programme) were spent on the Swedish Air Force and domestic aircraft production. In 1957 Sweden had the world's fourth most powerful air force, with about 1,000 modern planes in front-line service. During the 1950s, it introduced fighters such as the Saab J 29 Tunnan, Saab A 32 Lansen and Saab J 35 Draken. In June 1952 the Swedish Air Force lost two aircraft on Cold War operations, in what became known as the

Catalina affair The Catalina affair ( sv, Catalinaaffären) was a military confrontation and Cold War-era diplomatic crisis in June 1952, in which Soviet Air Force fighter jets shot down two Swedish aircraft over international waters in the Baltic Sea. The fi ...

. A signals intelligence

Douglas DC-3 The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II. It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper version ...

was intercepted by Soviet

MiG-15 The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 (russian: Микоя́н и Гуре́вич МиГ-15; USAF/DoD designation: Type 14; NATO reporting name: Fagot) is a jet fighter aircraft developed by Mikoyan-Gurevich for the Soviet Union. The MiG-15 was one of ...

s over the Baltic, and shot down with the loss of three aircrew and five civilian technicians. A

PBY Catalina The Consolidated PBY Catalina is a flying boat and amphibious aircraft that was produced in the 1930s and 1940s. In Canadian service it was known as the Canso. It was one of the most widely used seaplanes of World War II. Catalinas served wit ...

rescue seaplane was then also downed, the five-man crew being rescued from the sea by a freighter. In the air defence role the Swedish Air Force also operated

surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft syst ...

s. Svea Air Corps (F 8) operated de Havilland J-28B Vampire jet aircraft in 1949 being replaced in 1953 by Saab J-29 Tunnan and in 1957 by J-34 Hunter fighters. As of 1961 F 8 reroled into missile defence role becoming the air force technical training centre for using the new RB-68 Bloodhound systems in 2 squadrons until 1974. These Swedish units also operated the RB-68 missile system (1 squadron each): *

Scania Wing Scania Wing ( sv, Skånska flygflottiljen), also F 10 Ängelholm, or simply F 10, is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located in southernmost Sweden. History The tenth wing initially started as a detachment located at Svea Win ...

, also F 10 Ängelholm *

Kalmar Wing Kalmar Wing ( sv, Kalmar flygflottilj), also F 12 Kalmar, or simply F 12, is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located on the south-east coast of Sweden. History The wing started out with three squadrons of B 17C in 1942. In 19 ...

, also F 12 Kalmar, *

Bråvalla Wing Bråvalla Wing ( sv, Bråvalla flygflottilj), also F 13 Norrköping, or simply F 13, is a former Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Norrköping in south-eastern Sweden. History The Air Wing was established in 1943 as the fourt ...

, also F 13 Norrköping *

Blekinge Wing Blekinge Wing ( sv, Blekinge flygflottilj), also F 17 Kallinge, or simply F 17, is a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Ronneby in southern Sweden. It is one of the three remaining wings in Sweden and currently has two squ ...

, also F 17 Kallinge,

Death toll during the Cold War

In the Cold War era, more than 600 Swedish fighter pilots were killed in crashes during peacetime exercises and training in the 1945–1991 period. In the 1950s–60s era the flight training curriculum was deficient and the training regimes were too risky and some aircraft types had design flaws. In the 1950s, about 21 pilots were killed annually. In the 1960s the average number of killed were 13 per year, which meant Sweden had sixfold mortality rate per 100,000

flight hours Flight hours is an aviation term referring to the total amount of time spent piloting aircraft, and serves as the primary measure of a pilot's experience. Flight hours (or flight time) is defined as "when an aircraft moves under its own power for ...

compared to the United States. In the 1960s flight safety starts to become a consideration, not due to the death toll but because the aircraft were getting increasingly expensive. In October 1960, a Lansen fighter crashed into a farmhouse and killed 7 people. In the 1970s the death toll was reduced to 6–7 per year. In subsequent years, it continued to fall and from 1996 onwards, no fatal accident has been recorded.

War service

The Swedish Air Force has been involved in three wars, the Finno-Soviet

Winter War The Winter War,, sv, Vinterkriget, rus, Зи́мняя война́, r=Zimnyaya voyna. The names Soviet–Finnish War 1939–1940 (russian: link=no, Сове́тско-финская война́ 1939–1940) and Soviet–Finland War 1 ...

in 1939–40, in which volunteers took part, the

Congo Crisis The Congo Crisis (french: Crise congolaise, link=no) was a period of political upheaval and conflict between 1960 and 1965 in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo). The crisis began almost immediately after ...

, 1961–64, and in the

2011 Libyan civil war The First Libyan Civil War was an armed conflict in 2011 in the North African country of Libya that was fought between forces loyal to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and rebel groups that were seeking to oust his government. It erupted with the Liby ...

Finland 1940

When the Soviet Union attacked Finland in November 1939, Sweden came to its neighbour's assistance and eventually decided not to join the war. A Swedish volunteer infantry brigade and a volunteer air squadron fought in northern Finland from January to March 1940. The squadron was designated F 19 and consisted of 12

Gloster Gladiator The Gloster Gladiator is a British biplane fighter. It was used by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) (as the Sea Gladiator variant) and was exported to a number of other air forces during the late 1930s. Developed private ...

fighters and four

Hawker Hart The Hawker Hart is a British two-seater biplane light bomber aircraft that saw service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was designed during the 1920s by Sydney Camm and manufactured by Hawker Aircraft. The Hart was a prominent British aircraf ...

dive-bombers.

Congo 1961–1964

Saab SH37 Viggen, Sweden - Air Force AN1117576

The Swedish Air Force saw combat as part of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peace-keeping mission

ONUC The United Nations Operation in the Congo (french: Opération des Nations Unies au Congo, abbreviated to ONUC) was a United Nations peacekeeping force deployed in the Republic of the Congo in 1960 in response to the Congo Crisis. ONUC was the ...

during the

in 1961 to 1964. It established a separate air wing, F 22, equipped with a dozen

s, which performed well under the rough conditions in central Africa. The secessionist adversaries possessed only a small number of aircraft with poor combat capabilities, e.g.

Fouga Magister Fouga (also known as Air Fouga) was a French manufacturing company established by Gaston Fouga at Béziers during 1920. Originally specialising in the repair of railway rolling stock, the firm eventually became most noted for the aircraft it p ...

trainers.

1990s – restructuring

With the end of the

the

underwent a massive restructuring process. During this time, several air bases were deemed unnecessary and closed with fighters like the

Saab 37 Viggen The Saab 37 Viggen ( Swedish for ''"the Bolt"'' or ''"the Tufted Duck"'' ( see name)) is a retired Swedish single-seat, single-engine, short-medium range combat aircraft. Development work on the type was initiated at Saab in 1952 and, follow ...

retired prematurely. In 1994 the air force had over 400 fighters, by 2005 the number had sunk to fewer than 150.

Libya 2011

On 29 March 2011, the Swedish prime minister announced that eight Saab JAS 39 Gripens would support the UN-mandated no-fly zone over Libya. The announcement responded to a NATO request for assistance. The Swedish fighters were limited to supporting the no-fly zone and were not authorized to engage in ground attack sorties. The deployment was approved by the Swedish Riksdag on 1 April 2011 and the first jets departed for Libya on 2 April. A C-130 Hercules accompanied the fighters for mid-air refueling.

Current Inventory

Aircraft

Note: Three

C-17 Globemaster III The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

's are available through the

Heavy Airlift Wing The Heavy Airlift Wing (HAW) is an international military airlift organization based at Pápa Air Base, Hungary. The organization consists of several European states and the United States. It was officially activated on 27 July 2009 as part of t ...

based in

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

Weapons

Organization

Fighter units

There are four wings of

fighters Fighter(s) or The Fighter(s) may refer to: Combat and warfare * Combatant, an individual legally entitled to engage in hostilities during an international armed conflict * Fighter aircraft, a warplane designed to destroy or damage enemy warplan ...

: *

Skaraborg Wing Skaraborg Wing ( sv, Skaraborgs flygflottilj), also F 7 Såtenäs, or simply F 7, is a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Lidköping in south-central Sweden. History The decision to set up the air wing was made in 1936, but ...

(F 7) ** Located at

Såtenäs Såtenäs () is a smaller locality situated in Lidköping Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. Såtenäs is located at Vänern's southwestern part about 32 kilometers from Lidköping and 32 kilometers from Trollhättan. Most of Såte ...

outside

Lidköping Lidköping () is a locality and the seat of Lidköping Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had about 40 000 inhabitants in 2021. It is situated on the southern shore of Lake Vänern and sometimes refers to itself as "Lidköpin ...

, operates JAS 39C/D. *

(F 17) ** Located at

Kallinge Kallinge is a locality situated in Ronneby Municipality, Blekinge County, Sweden with 4,561 inhabitants in 2010. It is an industrial and garrison town and is situated about 5 km north of Ronneby. The settlement grew up around an ironworks in ...

Ronneby Ronneby is a locality and the seat of Ronneby Municipality in Blekinge County, Sweden with 12,029 inhabitants in 2010. Ronneby is regarded as the heart of "the Garden of Sweden", and in 2005 the park "Brunnsparken" in Ronneby was voted Sweden's m ...

, operates JAS 39C/D. *

Norrbotten Wing Norrbotten Wing ( sv, Norrbottens flygflottilj), also F 21 Luleå, or simply F 21, is a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located in Luleå Airport in northern Sweden. It is one of the three remaining wings in Sweden and currently has two ...

(F 21) ** Located at Kallax in

Luleå Luleå ( , , locally ; smj, Luleju; fi, Luulaja) is a city on the coast of northern Sweden, and the capital of Norrbotten County, the northernmost county in Sweden. Luleå has 48,728 inhabitants in its urban core (2018) and is the seat of Lu ...

, operates JAS 39C/D. *

Uppland Wing Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhabi ...

(F 16) ** Located at Ärna airport in

Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...

. Reestablished in 2021

Helicopter units

The aviation units that were formerly under the

Swedish Army The Swedish Army ( sv, svenska armén) is the land force of the Swedish Armed Forces. History Svea Life Guards dates back to the year 1521, when the men of Dalarna chose 16 young able men as body guards for the insurgent nobleman Gustav Vas ...

("") and the

Swedish Navy The Swedish Navy ( sv, Svenska marinen) is the naval branch of the Swedish Armed Forces. It is composed of surface and submarine naval units – the Fleet () – as well as marine units, the Amphibious Corps (). In Swedish, vessels o ...

("") have been merged with the helicopter units of the Air Force to form the single Helicopter Wing () for the entire Armed Forces. The wing has been placed under the authority of the Air Force and consists of: * 1st Helicopter Squadron (, abbreviated ) ** Kallax in

(co-located with F 21), operates Hkp 14. * 2nd Helicopter Squadron (, abbreviated ) ** Malmen in

Linköping Linköping () is a city in southern Sweden, with around 105,000 inhabitants as of 2021. It is the seat of Linköping Municipality and the capital of Östergötland County. Linköping is also the episcopal see of the Diocese of Linköping (Church ...

, operates Hkp 15 and Hkp 16. * 3rd Helicopter Squadron (, abbreviated ) **

(co-located with F 17), operates Hkp 14 and Hkp 15.

Air transport and special units

The air transport units perform airlift operations, and are used in both national and in international missions. The unit also organizes the Swedish part of the

. Signals reconnaissance units conduct electronic combat reconnaissance and intelligence gathering. * 71st Air Transport Division ( abbreviated ) ** Co-located with F 7 * 7th Transport and Special Air Unit (, abbreviated ) ** Co-located with F 7

Future of the Swedish Air Force

The Royal International Air Tattoo JAS 39 (cropped)

The Swedish Air Force is being adapted to new future tasks. With the collapse of the only military threat, the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War, the Swedish government has

cut Cut may refer to: Common uses * The act of cutting, the separation of an object into two through acutely-directed force ** A type of wound ** Cut (archaeology), a hole dug in the past ** Cut (clothing), the style or shape of a garment ** Cut (ea ...

the Swedish armed forces budget, including the Air Force and its fighters. Today about 80 Gripen C/D fighters remain in service. Some orders have been made on the helicopter side and about 40 new units will join the air force in the coming years.

Saab Saab or SAAB may refer to: Brands and enterprises * Saab Group, a Swedish aerospace and defence company, formerly known as SAAB, and later as Saab AB ** Datasaab, a former computer company, started as spin off from Saab AB * Saab Automobile, a fo ...

has also joined the primarily French project for the unmanned future stealth plane Dassault nEUROn. In 2008 and 2010, the Swedish armed forces wanted to retire even more fighters and close air bases to relocate money to other branches. However, because of negative response from the public and pressure from the Swedish government, no cuts happened as of 2011. Defense Minister Sten Tolgfors responded to the Russian purchase of

Mistral-class amphibious assault ship The ''Mistral'' class is a class of five amphibious assault ships built by France. Also known as helicopter carriers, and referred to as "projection and command ships" (french: links=no, bâtiments de projection et de commandement or BPC), a '' ...

s by saying that the Swedish Air Force would need "sea targeting capabilities". In 2013, the USMC introduced Swedish helicopter units to the

forward air control Forward air control is the provision of guidance to close air support (CAS) aircraft intended to ensure that their attack hits the intended target and does not injure friendly troops. This task is carried out by a forward air controller (FAC). ...

airborne mission profile for better air-ground coordination. In the same year, 60 further modified E class Gripens were ordered with the first plane to join the Air force in 2018. In April 2014, the Swedish government proposed another 10 fighters making the total order 70 planes. By 2019 there were also plans to keep some of the Gripen C aircraft in service to keep numbers of fighters at current levels. At RIAT 2022, the commander of the Swedish Air Force stated that the air force in the future (2030) will consist of 60 Jas 39C/D and 60 Jas 39E in a total of 7 fighter squadrons.

Saab JAS 39 Gripen E

Today the Swedish Air Force main fighter is the

Saab JAS 39 Gripen The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (; English: ''griffin'') is a light single-engine multirole fighter aircraft manufactured by the Swedish aerospace and defense company Saab AB. The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stabilit ...

, in the C/D versions. By 2018 95 fighters were active with about 30 of these being updated from the A version. The heavily modernised E version will replace the current fleet of Gripen Cs. The new aircraft includes a new

Active Electronically Scanned Array An active electronically scanned array (AESA) is a type of phased array antenna, which is a computer-controlled array antenna in which the beam of radio waves can be electronically steered to point in different directions without moving the an ...

(AESA) radar, and is powered by the

General Electric F414 The General Electric F414 is an American afterburning turbofan engine in the 22,000- pound (98 kN) thrust class produced by GE Aviation. The F414 originated from GE's widely used F404 turbofan, enlarged and improved for use in the Boeing F/A-18 ...

G. It carries more fuel and weapons. The upgrade also includes new weapon systems like the Meteor missile system. In 2013, Saab signed an agreement with the

Swedish Defence Materiel Administration The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration ( sv, Försvarets materielverk, FMV) is a Swedish government agency that reports to the Ministry of Defence. The agency is responsible for the supply of materiel to the Swedish defence organisation. It ...

for 60 new Gripen in the E version. The first aircraft is to join the Swedish Air Force by 2018. There are also plans to buy further 10 aircraft. JAS 39C is expected to remain in service until 2030.

Military transport aircraft

The Swedish

C-130 Hercules The Lockheed C-130 Hercules is an American four-engine turboprop military transport aircraft designed and built by Lockheed Corporation, Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). Capable of using unprepared runways for takeoffs and landings, the C-130 ...

(TP 84) were bought from the United States in the 1960s and has been updated several times. By 2020 the current version will not be able to fly because of new restrictions to civilian air space. The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration has been tasked to update the aircraft so they can remain in service to 2030. There are also plans to buy new aircraft by 2024 to replace the current fleet. As part of the

cooperation, Sweden also operate three

Boeing C-17 The McDonnell Douglas/Boeing C-17 Globemaster III is a large military transport aircraft that was developed for the United States Air Force (USAF) from the 1980s to the early 1990s by McDonnell Douglas. The C-17 carries forward the name of two ...

which are located at

Pápa Air Base Pápa Air Base is a military airbase located near Pápa, Hungary. The building of the airport started in 1936. The Hungarian Air Force has three active air bases, and is the only active air base in western Hungary. During World War II, several ...

Training aircraft

Sweden uses the Saab 105 as the primary jet-trainer. About 40 planes are today operational. Designed in the 1960s the aircraft is starting to show its age and will gradually be replaced. The Swedish Air Force has selected the

Grob G 120TP The Grob G 120TP is a two-seat turboprop training and aerobatic low-wing aircraft with a composite airframe, built by Grob Aircraft. It is based on the Grob G 120A training aircraft and has been developed for military and civil pilots training ...

as its new Basic Trainer Aircraft, designated SK 40. Seven aircraft and one computer-based training system are on order, with delivery expected in 2022 and service starting in 2023.

Saab GlobalEye AEW&C

Sweden will procure the Saab

GlobalEye GlobalEye is a multi-role airborne early warning & control (AEW&C) platform from Swedish defence and security company Saab. GlobalEye consists of a suite of sensors using Saab's Erieye ER (Extended Range) radar and mission system, installed in th ...

airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) platform to replace its two S100D/ASC890. The Swedish Armed Forces submitted an official request to the government to buy the Saab Globaleye platform on October 1, 2021. On October 24, 2021 the Swedish government approved the purchase to replace its old S100D/ASC890. On 30 June 2022 SAAB and the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) signed a contract for the acquisition of 2

aircraft, to be designated S 106 in Swedish service. The deal is valued at 7,3 billion SEK (US$710 million) and deliveries are scheduled for 2027. The contract also includes the option to procure up to 2 additional GlobalEye aircraft.

Ranks

;Commissioned officer ranks The rank insignia of

commissioned officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer, or a warrant officer. However, absent context ...

s. ;Other ranks The rank insignia of

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is a military officer who has not pursued a commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority by promotion through the enlisted ranks. (Non-officers, which includes most or all enli ...

s and

enlisted personnel An enlisted rank (also known as an enlisted grade or enlisted rate) is, in some armed services, any rank below that of a commissioned officer. The term can be inclusive of non-commissioned officers or warrant officers, except in United States m ...

References

External links

Swedish Air Force – Official site

Swedish Air Force Historical Flight, SwAFHF

Information on Swedish military aviation

Sunneberg – Information on Swedish aircraft
{{Authority control

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

Military units and formations established in 1926 1926 establishments in Sweden

History

World War II

Expansion during the Cold War

Death toll during the Cold War

War service

Finland 1940

Congo 1961–1964

1990s – restructuring

Libya 2011

Current Inventory

Aircraft

Weapons

Organization

Fighter units

Helicopter units

Air transport and special units

Future of the Swedish Air Force

Saab JAS 39 Gripen E

Military transport aircraft

Training aircraft

Saab GlobalEye AEW&C

Ranks

See also

People

References

Further reading

External links