As sometimes said, its time to say good bye, and with that the Austrian Air Force commemorated the withdrawal of its fleet of SAAB J-35 OE Drakens
from military service on Friday the 25th November 2005. This also marked the end of an era for the double-delta winged Swedish fighter after 45 years of service with four different nations including Sweden, Denmark,
Finland and of course Austria the very last user of the type operating 24 machines in total. Notable is the fact that after 18 years of service including 27,000 missions not a single aircraft had been lost - a record which the
crews and technicians attribute to the fact that the Austrian Air Force has benefited from 25 years of Swedish Air Force experience. Clearly an understatement however this is not the only reason. Proudly but wistfully
the men and women of the Austrian Air force look back at their “Old Dragons” that were operated with a dedication and professionalism which gained a lot out of these old machines, more than anyone ever thought possible.
Twice, left-wing politicians tried to cancel the procurement of the Draken, with some notables trying almost anything (mostly due to populist reasons)
to stop the Draken being purchased, even though it wasn’t a new aircraft in the mid nineteen eighties. Numerous so called “experts” voiced their doubts through various articles and reports although none of these articles
had survived the Draken’s 18 years of service. For example, one claim was that the noise level of the Draken would be so high that no civilian could live around the airbase where the Draken was to be stationed, while
another “expert” announced that the Draken can’t be operated safely and that it is just a question of time before the first J-35 will crash. The whole
discussion was very emotional with irrelevance being the theme, especially from the Draken opponents. Nevertheless the former Austrian government signed a contract with the SAAB
Corporation on the 21st May 1985 for the supply of 24 used SAAB J-35 D fighters. The D-models supplied had to be modified to fulfil Austrian Air Force requirements with the view that they should serve only for maximum
10 years as a stop gap measure until a more modern aircraft could be brought into service.
During the first round of the tender process the Draken was not the Austrian Governments first choice as the most modern aircraft available at
the time was the Lockheed Martin F-16, however the Fighting Falcon was too expensive for Austria’s small defence budget. Next on the list was the English Electric Lightning, which from a technical point of view was superior
to the Draken, although technical advantages aside Austria would have been the only operator of this type which would have to be purchased from the Royal Saudi Air Force, a situation which was to be avoided. Also pilot
training could not be carried out in Austria while available funds would not cover purchase the two-seat trainer version. The main reason why Austria selected the Draken was Austrian neutrality. Sweden is also a neutral
country and because of this a very close trade partner with Austria. Through a process that included barter transactions a contract was signed resulting in the first aircraft being delivered to the Fliegerdivison in January of 1988.
Pilot training was carried out at Angelholm Sweden using the J-35C Two-seat trainer of the Swedish Flygvapnet. The original plan was for the
Draken to be used for a maximum period of 10 years, however its planned tour of duty was extended a number of times because the decision for a worthy successor was delayed until the end of 2004. By 1997 the Swedish
Air Force had already retired their Draken’s from active service resulting in no new pilots being trained on the type. To extend the Draken lifespan and to provide pilots with the (minimum) required flying hours, a contract was
raised with the Swedish Air Force allowing Austrian pilots to be trained on the Saab JA-37 Viggen to help maintain their flying hours to gain experience on a more advanced fighter aircraft. With future trade in mind the Swedish
Government and the Swedish aviation industry supported the Austrian requirement.
Previous controversy surrounding the purchase of the Draken (and importantly where to base the aircraft) led to another absurd situation in
the beginning of the 1990’s. The Austrian Fliegerdivision had all together 24 mission capable Saab J-35OE Drakens but only 9 trained pilots to fly them. One of the main reasons for the lack of pilots was the hostility they faced
from many of their fellow countrymen with many being insulted and their families threatened. In the Draken’s first years of service the security requirements at the two airbases (Graz Thalerhof and Zeltweg
Hinterstoisser) were ridiculous. While during this time the inconceivable had happened - civil war broken out within neighbouring Yugoslavia.
The first few weeks and months of this conflict saw a number of airspace violations by Yugoslav Mikojan Gurevich MiG-21 fighters. At the time
Austrian Drakens were armed only with 30mm Aden cannon as air-to-air missiles were strictly prohibited in accordance with the Austrian treaty (which was completely outdated at the end of the last century).
Nevertheless the Austrian Fliegerdivision managed to maintain air sovereignty within their country, a remarkable achievement indeed and at least for a short period of time any critisisum of the “Old Dragon” had
disappeared. The maxim: “Nobody loves a soldier, until the enemy is at the gate” proved to be true in the case of the Austrian Fliegerdivision and their Draken Interceptors as has been the case so often in past.
From 1993 to 1996 the search for a worthy successor to the Draken intensified, but as before, political disputes and the poor finacial state
hampered this task. The BMLV (Bundesministerium f. Landesverteidigung - Ministry of Defense) evaluated the following types: AMD Mirage 2000-5, SAAB JAS-39 Gripen, MAPO MiG-29SE, Lockheed Martin F-16C as well as the
Boeing F/A-18C Hornet. But instead of selecting the new aircraft the government first purchased a relatively huge amount of armoured vehicles for the Austrian Army, including 114 Leopard II Main Battle Tanks and 200
Steyr Pandur Recconaisance Vehicles. The decision to replace the obsolete interceptors was again delayed. Elections and a new government coalition brought more delays but by the end of the year 2000 (22nd December) the
procurement of a successor to the Draken was ratified. Several companys were informed resulting in the provision of information material and offers.
After facing more (political) delays, offers were finally examined resulting in the the Russian MiG-29 being dropped from the race. However the new
Eurofighter consortium with their brand new Eurofighter EF-2000 Typhoon was also a possibilty. After just three years of evaluation of only three contenders were left comprising of the Lockheed Martin, the SAAB
corporation and interestingly the EADS company, who wasn’t even invited to tender. Even though the press and the public always believed a Swedish solution would win, the EF-2000 was selected on the 2nd July 2004 as the
winner. The Eurofighter fulfilled most of the criteria against its competitors, definatly a brave decision, but also the correct one. The EF-2000 is by far the most advanced aircraft offering the best development potential of all
candidates. Originally a total of 24 aircraft were to have been acquired, however due to a devastating and costly flood in the same year this figure was reduced down to 18 aircraft
The first batch of EF-2000 Eurofighters (Tranche 1) will be delivered to the Fliegerdivision in approximately 2007. In the meantime the lifespan of the
Saab Draken was running out requiring an interim solution to be found. This came in the form of 12 Northrop F-5E Tiger II fighters leased from the Swiss Air force from March 2004 until the new Eurofighter is fully combat ready
.Just three months later the first Tiger landed at Graz Thalerhof airbase with their fleet of Drakens already withdrawn to Zeltweg Hinterstoisser, where they nevertheless have been still carrying out their air superiority
role. November 25th 2005 saw the official disbandment of this unique aircraft being celebrated with great ceremony. Even if the aircraft was officially out of service it still remained operational till the end of 2005,
whereas they flew aggressor missions against the F-5 Es.
At least on the 31st. December 2005 not only an era of an important and unique aircraft ended, but also an era of the Austrian history. Less had
heatened the emotions of the Austrian population more within the last 20 years than the “old Swede” made by Saab. The J-35 OE has served his country more than fine, much longer than expected. Its safety record and
its success had proven at least one thing: that the decision of purchasing the Draken in 1985 was absolutely correct. The pilots didn’t disunit with their old aircraft gladly, and even if the Draken was not easy to fly it was a
pilot’s aircraft and had indeed its qualitys. The very last display pilot, Capt. Kirchner even said after his final flight, that the Draken had been one of the best aircraft which had been built until today. One thing definitely was
shown by the Saab J-35 OE Draken: that there are more uncapable politicians and so called experts than fine aircraft.
Robert Kysela / managing editor
Release 4.0/2008
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