DCS: AJS-37 Viggen Discussion

[mangotango]

Found an awesome article (it's translated with Google so sorry for any typos or strange sentences):

 

The largest and most powerful fighter aircraft built in Sweden

Today's date is February 8: This day 47 years ago flew the first prototype of the 37 Viggen with Erik Dahlström at the controls. Swedish politicians, with pressure from outside, stopped since Swedish exports.

AJ 37a

Had it not been for domestic and some foreign players had 37 Viggen become a Swedish export success. Because there was a real great interest abroad to buy Viggen launched in the 70s as the "Eurofighter". Swedish politicians definitely put a stop to the export of the biggest Swedish industrial investment.

Even before the J 35 Draken first flew in 1955 began to study various concepts for a successor to J 35: an, but also a successor to the A 32 Lance. Between 1952 and 1956 studied over 100 different types of aircraft and a large number of possible projects.

One of these projects in 1300, had a number of variants of which projects in 1357 was the first with the new nosvingen that would become so characteristic of Viggen. The thing now was to get the best solution from many angles.

The development of Viggen took place in a climate of constant questioning from the media. Sweden had really needed to so advanced and expensive armament systems? Financially, it was necessary to obtain a so-called unit aircraft, which could satisfy the requirements of attack, hunting and reconnaissance. During the project stage in the 50's and early 60's there were not the opportunities that the air change weapons platform these days one of the JAS 39 Gripen, with a few keystrokes. So despite the fact that it would build a device airplanes meant further supplements to attack, hunting and reconnaissance versions.

The basic requirements, however, was the same for all versions, namely, short take-off and landing distance and extremely good speed capacity. There was also a requirement that the aircraft could reach an altitude of 10,000 meters two minutes after the driver released the brakes on the runway. Viggen would continue to use our vägbassystem BAS 60. Cheap maintenance and high availability as well as the prompt preparation between Airline passports were also among the basic requirements.

Once out on flotillas and scale bases had Viggen a clarification group of 7 men. A clarification group consisted of a firm hired officers and six soldiers in military service. For such a group took 10 minutes to make a JA 37 ready for new missions. No other air units in the world can handle the same task within this time frame.

AJ 37th

AJ 37th

In February 1961 left the KFF (Royal Flight Administration) approval for continued development of the aircraft 37. In December the same year decided KFF that the US engine Pratt & Whitney JT8D-D could be used in the Viggen. JT8 D was an engine that was used in the civilian Boeing 727 and 737. The same engine was also later on the familiar DC 9s. There was a version that was labeled JT8-22 who was one of the United States, supposed military version, and this engine became the final choice of engine for the Viggen.

SFA (Swedish Aircraft Engine) had to basically rebuild the engine from the ground up to be used in the aircraft 37 in demanding military conditions. After rebuilding and built on Swedish designed afterburner got the engine designation RM8A. It received a thrust of 6690 kgf without EBK (afterburner) and 11800 kg with the EBK. This engine was the time the most powerful engine ever in a fighter aircraft in the world. Later, the hunting version of the Viggen improved RM8, now called RM8B with 7415 kg without EBK and 13125 kg with the EBK.

In April 1962 was appointed SAAB main supplier and it was thought that 830 aircraft would be built. As we all know started other than defense a priority and it was built in the end only 330 aircraft of all versions plus 9 test aircraft.

The first version, series produced was basic version AJ 37. The attack missions against naval and ground targets was the main task for the AJ 37, but even easier hunting mission (combat air targets) could be performed. The first production aircraft was delivered to the Air Force's attempt Central FC June 21, 1971 and was followed by a further 5 aircraft for further testing and instructor training pilots in the Air Force. 1973 delivered the first AJ 37 to dressing, it was F7 in Såtenäs who became the first Viggen. Ouch 37 had no internal armament as automatic cannon, without any armament was hung up in capsules under the wings, there was even automatic cannon pod. Viggen was developed during the Vietnam War, and from there came the impulses to permanent internal cannon was out-dated, it was missiles and rockets that are now in force. That decision would later regret in the Air Force.

Some failures occurred in early Viggens operational services. These were caused by the wing spar could not handle the heavy pressure during sharp maneuvers and Viggen added for grounding. SAAB had already before the crashes started reinforced wing spars with heavier wall thickness, from 12 mm to 41 mm in newer planes. 27 Viggen aircraft had been manufactured with thinner wing spars and the modified immediately. The flight ban was lifted, and after that the accident rate has been low for aircraft 37 Viggen.

The next version was SK 37, the two-seat school version where the first prototype flew 2 June 1970. This plan kept the Air Force's attempt Central for various utprovningar until 1995 when it was handed over to the Air Force Museum in Linköping. The first delivery of serial SK 37 began in June 1972 to F7 in Såtenäs then responsible for the TIS 37, Typinflygningsskolan. Later moved all education of the F15 in Söderhamn and when the squadron was disbanded moved everything on to F4 on Frösön.

SK 37 had no armament except a few attack rockets could be mounted under the wings. The plane was originally meant to be used only to clean the curriculum. Besides the extra plexiglass hood is the bigger fin the only exterior that differs from the other SAAB 37 with one exception, YES 37 that have the same fin SK 37. 10 pieces SK 37 was modified at F 21 in Luleå SK 37 E (E for Electronic jamming). The latter plan was used during the exercises with electronic jamming against the attacking forces.

SK 37 from the F15 in Söderhamn.

SK 37 from the F15 in Söderhamn.

The development of Viggen continued and in May 1973 flew SF 37 first time. This version was based entirely on the AJ 37, but was designed for photo reconnaissance, and equipped with advanced camera equipment including night reconnaissance with various infrared equipment. No less than seven cameras were mounted on this type. Series deliveries of this version began in 1977 and went first to the F 13 in Chicago, then to the respective Kallinge F 17, F 21 and F 10 Lulea Angelholm.

Another reconnaissance version was produced, SH 37 was an advanced radar reconnaissance aircraft intended for maritime surveillance. SH 37 was applied F13, F17 and F 21. Both SF and SH versions were later modernized and upgraded to be able to perform attack missions and was given the designation AJSF 37 and AJSH 37th

AJSF 37 / AJSH 37 from F21 Luleå.

AJSF 37 / AJSH 37 from F21 Luleå.

The last version built by SAAB 37 was JA 37 Viggen. This was basically a new aircraft but differed only to the exterior through its larger fin and the body was prolonged by 13 cm because of the bigger engine RM8B.

From the time the Viggen began had computers and electronics have made enormous steps forward and took advantage of it in the new version which had a new central computer with five times as much capacity as the basic version. In addition, there were four basis programmable on-board computers that either were not available in the basic version. Radar and radio and navigation system were of an entirely new generation with significantly improved performance.

The error from the basic version had now remedied by incorporating a 30 mm automatic cannon in the Oerlikon fuselage. This automatic cannon had an ammunition gave six times more impact force than the Adenkanon had been in external pods to AJ 37. The autopilot was a class apart. When the driver had locked on a target assumed the autopilot control the yaw and pitch plane for precision aiming with automatic gun which relieved the driver so that he could devote himself to tactical and situational orientation. YES 37 Viggen can in many cases be regarded as a second generation fighter. There were few other planes in the world that could compare with the Viggen.

[mangotango]

Articles (In swedish though...)

[ame]http://www.fht.nu/bilder/Flygvapnet/Flygvapennytt/fv_nytt_2_91_ajs_37_viggen.pdf[/ame]

[ame]http://www.fht.nu/bilder/Flygvapnet/Flygvapennytt/fv_nytt_3_90_ja_37_jaktviggen.pdf[/ame]

[ame]http://www.fht.nu/bilder/Flygvapnet/Flygvapennytt/fv_nytt_4_96_varldsunik_simulator.pdf[/ame]

[MBot]

Articles (In swedish though...)

 

What is the deal with the NAVFLIR pod on the last page of the first article? Was that a proposed upgrade that never happened?

[RaXha]

What is the deal with the NAVFLIR pod on the last page of the first article? Was that a proposed upgrade that never happened?

 

 

Yes it was. :-) It says on the page that it is being tested (but in reality it pretty much never got any further than the experimental stage). It is described as a FLIR camera that is aimed at a fixed position in front of the aircraft and that aid finding targets and navigating at night by superimposing what the IR camera sees onto the HUD.

Edited January 30, 2016 by RaXha

[Pilum]

Without further ado, I present the first part of my findings from today: FPL AJ37: speciell förarinstruktion, del 2, kapitel 1 (57 MB PDF).

 

Chapters 2-6 were not in what I received - I'm not sure if this was because they haven't been declassified or because they weren't in this publication. I have asked via email, but no reply yet. There are two more parts that I will upload later tonight: part 3, which is full of performance diagrams (climb times, acceleration times, top speeds at a given engine RPM, things like that), and a collection of updated pages for part 2 - basically an errata of things that have changed after its publication.

 

Fpl AJ37: speciell förarinstruktion, del 3 (9 MB PDF)

 

Performance charts, for all kinds of atmospheric conditions and loadouts. Chapter 7 (which contains information about maneuver performance, presumably rate of turn, rate of roll etc) is missing.

 

Trivia: if I'm reading these graphs right, from a standstill on the ground, takeoff and acceleration to Mach 0.55 takes just over 30 seconds at full AB with a light combat loadout. From M 0.55 at a nominal 0 meters of altitude, accelerating to M 0.9 and climbing to 10 km with the same light combat loadout takes about 1 minute 45 seconds.

Fpl AJ37: speciell förarinstruktion, del 2, kap 1, ändring 90

 

A package of updated pages from 1995. Among other things contains info about the new jammer pod, kapsel U22. Annoyingly I only got this one update pack - ideally I would've gotten all of them and could've been able to reconstruct a "final" version of the manual by replacing pages as instructed in the update packs, but this is the only one I got for whatever reason so here you go for now.

 

Thanks for the (formerly) secret parts of the SFI! I really enjoyed reading it, especially the parts about the countermeasures and how the pilots operated these and their tactical use. I worked for more than 10 years in the Swedish defence industry with some of these systems and I never, ever thought I was going to read about them at this level of details on the public internet but since the story has been published by the Swedish chapter of the AOC, the contents must have been duly vetted so it should be safe to link.

 

I think the pdf linked below contains a lot of general goodies but if you are especially interested in the AJ-37 countermeasures suite and usage there is a special section about that which contains details about tactical use of the countermeasures on the AJ-37 and technical details about the radar warning system, KA, KB and U22 pod systems.

 

For those of you who don’t read Swedish: Don’t despair: Simply copy the sections that interested you and run through Google translate. It works surprisingly well…..

 

https://www.google.se/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwiOsvWmvtHKAhVCiSwKHf2wDk0QFggeMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.vikingroost.org%2Fpdf%2FMMrapport__utg_2.pdf&usg=AFQjCNH_JuQq8kQliBQ1IIAfnnEAt1qfSw

Edited January 30, 2016 by Pilum

[amb]

Super excited about this. I would have prefered a JA 37, but an AJS 37 is super cool as well. Will definitely buy as soon as it is available. And wouldn't mind one bit paying full price again for a future JA 37.

[mattebubben]

Super excited about this. I would have prefered a JA 37, but an AJS 37 is super cool as well. Will definitely buy as soon as it is available. And wouldn't mind one bit paying full price again for a future JA 37.

 

While i would love having a JA-37 and it would be a competative fighter.

 

The AJS-37 makes more sense since it feels a slot that is currently empty.

 

It will be the first Fast Strike aircraft with guided munition etc.

 

While the JA-37 would just be another fighter/interceptor.

 

And also the AJS-37 is alot easier to get info about.

[BravoYankee4]

Found an awesome article (it's translated with Google so sorry for any typos or strange sentences):

 

"Ouch 37 had no internal armament as automatic cannon..."

 

This is funny, translating "AJ" to "ouch"

Perhaps the "J" was in smaller not capital letter that confused the translation engine?

[mattebubben]

Found an awesome article (it's translated with Google so sorry for any typos or strange sentences):

 

 

 

Could you link the Original swedish article?

[Frisco1522]

Wonder when LN will shut this thread down (or move) and make a sub-forum for the Viggen?

 

Frisco1522

[Tirak]

Wonder when LN will shut this thread down (or move) and make a sub-forum for the Viggen?

 

Frisco1522

 

Oh probably around the time when the actually put up their own official release announcement, sooo. give it a few more months...

[Rabbl]

From weekend news

 

In the first half of 2016, several new 3rd party aircraft modules will also be launched. These include the F-5E Tiger II by Belsimtek, the SA342 Gazelle by Polychop Simulations, and the AJS-37 Viggen by Leatherneck Simulations.

 

Viggen? Not F-14 first?

[Erab]

From weekend news

 

In the first half of 2016, several new 3rd party aircraft modules will also be launched. These include the F-5E Tiger II by Belsimtek, the SA342 Gazelle by Polychop Simulations, and the AJS-37 Viggen by Leatherneck Simulations.

 

Viggen? Not F-14 first?

 

Nope, Viggen first.

[Rabbl]

Sooo... no sub-forum for Viggen? No Viggen official info on LNS site but F-14 have it? oh.. my brain is shutting down

[RaXha]

Sooo... no sub-forum for Viggen? oh.. my brain is shutting down

 

Thats because there technically hasn't been an announcement from LNS yet. :P

[Rabbl]

So F-14 is on hold because of new carriers?

[RaXha]

So F-14 is on hold because of new carriers?

 

No one said the F-14 is on hold. It has been scheduled for the second half of 2016 all along. The Viggen was originaly planned for end of 2015, but was delayed until first half of 2016. LNS has 3 aircraft scheduled for release during 2016. :-)

[Tirak]

So F-14 is on hold because of new carriers?

 

Not at all, the F-14 has always been the long term project. Progress continues as usual I expect, but it is by far the most complex of the three. Currently is scheduled for 2nd half 2016, but you can rather safely assume that means a 2017 release at the earliest.

[Hook47]

Not at all, the F-14 has always been the long term project. Progress continues as usual I expect, but it is by far the most complex of the three. Currently is scheduled for 2nd half 2016, but you can rather safely assume that means a 2017 release at the earliest.

 

Exactly. The F-14 requires a substantial amount of work above the Viggen I suspect, and I'm glad to get the Viggen first anyway, will give me yet another great LNS product to dive in to and enjoy

 

Although why the Viggen announcement still hasn't been made is a total mystery to me.

[mattebubben]

Exactly. The F-14 requires a substantial amount of work above the Viggen I suspect, and I'm glad to get the Viggen first anyway, will give me yet another great LNS product to dive in to and enjoy

 

Although why the Viggen announcement still hasn't been made is a total mystery to me.

 

Probably they want to announce it together with some Pictures / video.

 

And maby those things are not ready yet.

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

So F-14 is on hold because of new carriers?

 

From what I gleaned from the crumbs that Cobra has given us is that the F-14 was a very, very, very big step up in terms of sophistication; at its core, the MiG-21 isn't much more complicated than the fighters that clashed over Europe in the '40s and the Korean peninsula later on. Even the MiG-21bis, my baby, is quite a simple fighter when compared to other aircraft of its era.

 

The F-14 is immensely more advanced than the Fishbed. This level of sophistication demanded that the team up its game by developing new things all together. In this, the development of the AJS-37 has provided a stepping stone for that.

 

At least, that's what I've gathered from the Cobra's posts.

 

I could be totally insane and wrong, so don't quote me on that.

[mattebubben]

From what I gleaned from the crumbs that Cobra has given us is that the F-14 was a very, very, very big step up in terms of sophistication; at its core, the MiG-21 isn't much more complicated than the fighters that clashed over Europe in the '40s and the Korean peninsula later on. Even the MiG-21bis, my baby, is quite a simple fighter when compared to other aircraft of its era.

 

The F-14 is immensely more advanced than the Fishbed. This level of sophistication demanded that the team up its game by developing new things all together. In this, the development of the AJS-37 has provided a stepping stone for that.

 

At least, that's what I've gathered from the Cobra's posts.

 

I could be totally insane and wrong, so don't quote me on that.

 

Well there are many things about the F-14 are are very much new to DCS.

 

the swing wing being one.

 

And that will require a great deal of work including work around the flight model and how the sweeping of the wing effects the flight model etc.

 

And its also the first 2 seat combat aircraft.

 

and each cockpit is filled with instruments and screens etc.

 

And then they needed to find a way to make a aircraft flyable for a single guy wich led them too start developing the Jester AI.

 

Since the F-14 cant be used in combat with just one guy.

 

And it would not be possible to simply jump between the cockpit mid fight.

 

Many things like that make it a very demanding aircraft to make.

Edited January 31, 2016 by mattebubben

[WinterH]

Viggen and Corsaie were always supposed to release first, if my memory serves right. I remember like at least year ago or so, Cobra saying something to the effect of "we have two more modules in a more advanced development stage" when F-14 was just announced.

[Rabbl]

So again this stupid question: No official thread or site info about Viggen progress? WHY? Viggen announced in official ED news... so no Photos? Videos? WUT?

[MiG21bisFishbedL]

So again this stupid question: No official thread or site info about Viggen progress? WHY? Viggen announced in official ED news... so no Photos? Videos? WUT?

 

I doubt it's a very long ways out, now. The initial discovering was an accident, to begin with.