Swedish Air Force outlines deep-strike and dispersal plans for Gripen fleet

Swedish Air Force officers say the service would not limit itself to defending Swedish territory if Russia attacked. It would also strike military infrastructure inside Russia. Colonel Carl Bergqvist, head of the Air Warfare Center, described the approach to the Swedish daily Aftonbladet, saying the aim is to make aggression costly. He named bases, command nodes and logistics as potential targets.

Planning documents set out how the concept is being developed. Long-range strike capability is combined with the dispersal of Gripen fighters across military bases, civilian airports and road strips, so the force can keep operating after an opening attack.

During the Aurora 26 exercise, Gripens from the Blekinge Wing (F 17) flew for five days from short runways at Hagshult, a dispersed Cold War base. Each strip is 800 metres long, and can be used if a main runway is put out of action. The armed forces said the aim was to make the force less vulnerable to external threats.

Lieutenant Colonel Robin Ohlsson, commander of the 171st Fighter Squadron, said Ukraine is handling the war through dispersal. Sweden's short-runway experience, he added, could feed into NATO's Agile Combat Employment concept.

The 2027 budget submission states that the Air Force will keep developing dispersal between military bases, civilian airfields and road bases through 2030, alongside mobile units able to service fighters away from their main bases. According to the Air Force, the service has also tested the Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile from a JAS 39 Gripen at the Vidsel Test Range.