Saab 37 Viggen

what is it?

Saab 37 Viggen (The Tufted Duck; the word also means The Thunderbolt) is a single-seat, single-engine multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the Swedish aircraft manufacturer Saab. It was the first canard-equipped aircraft to be produced in quantity and the first to carry an airborne digital central computer with integrated circuits for its avionics, arguably making it the most modern/advanced combat aircraft in Europe at the time of introduction. The digital central computer was the first of its kind in the world, automating and taking over tasks previously requiring a navigator/copilot, facilitating handling in tactical situations where, among other things, high speeds and short decision times determined whether attacks would be successful or not, a system not surpassed until the introduction of the Panavia Tornado into operational service in 1981.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 jet engine · 10.6 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 2,231 km/htop speed
• size 19.3 tmax take-off weight
• built 330made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 59 years ago, in 1967.
• 🏎️Top speed is 17.2× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 💥Faster than sound: up to Mach 1.8 (sea-level speed of sound ≈ 1,235 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 10.6 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🐘Fully loaded it can weigh as much as 3 African elephants (~6 t each).
• 🏔️Can fly 2.0× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1967-02-08

introduced

1972

retired

2007

status

retired

number built

330

role

third-generation jet fighter

origin

🇸🇪 Sweden

makers

Saab Group

engines

1× Volvo RM8B / Pratt & Whitney JT8D

crew

1

length

16.4 m

wingspan

10.6 m

height

5.9 m

max take-off weight

19.3 t

top speed

2,231 km/h

range

—

ceiling

18,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.