Fighter and reconnaissance operations from the air

By: Charlotta Börjesson, Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters | Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters – 23 July 2021 kl: 10.59
Archived news

Year round, day and night they stand prepared to protect Swedish borders. For more than 70 years, Swedish Air Force fighter aircraft have maintained incident preparedness.

A Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from an air base in Sweden
A Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from an air base in Sweden
A Gripen fighter aircraft takes off from an air base in Sweden. There are always fighter aircraft on standby. Photo: Louise Levin/Swedish Armed Forces

There are always fighter aircraft ready to take off from an air base somewhere in Sweden. The incident preparedness function, as it is called, conducts live fighter, attack and reconnaissance missions.

The incident preparedness aircraft perform a variety of tasks, not only border surveillance and protection here and now. Other tasks are identification and documentation of activities in our immediate surroundings, e.g. military exercises, aircraft or ships.

“The information and documentation collected by the pilot is an important part of creating an image of the situation in our immediate surroundings and thereby, an understanding of the situation as a whole. With this image as a basis, we adapt our preparedness and activities, says Jörgen Lönngren”, Operations Officer at the Swedish Armed Forces Joint Operations Staff.

Swedish territory and air space are constantly surveyed by various sensors and radar stations located across the country. The pilots control the surveillance by means of their own vision as well as sensors on the aircraft, such as the aircraft radar or the reconnaissance pod, which is a large digital camera with advanced camera lenses. The pilots are also able to use small cameras to take high resolution photographs directly from the cockpit.

“Should unknown activity be detected on Swedish territory or air space, fighter aircraft are the most efficient means of countering an intruder. In addition to monitoring the events, the aircraft are tasked with stopping and rejecting the intruder” says Jörgen Lönngren.

The main part of the incident preparedness is organised within fighter and reconnaissance activities. However, when the Soviet submarine U-137 ran aground in the Karlskrona archipelago in 1981, the Swedish Air Force had fighter aircraft on standby.

Facts and figures

If an incident should escalate for some reason, the pilot has the right of self defence, according to international regulations. In order to reduce the risk of making mistakes, causing a subsequent escalation of the situation, there are national as well as international regulations to adhere to. 

The national IKFN regulations deal with intervention, violations, peace and neutrality and provide a framework for handling violations of Swedish territory and air space in peacetime and in relation to neutrality.

Since the pilot is expected to be able to communicate with signs, radio messages, light signals, warning fire and by tipping the aircraft, there is also an international standard for this, the essence of which should be known to all pilots, civilian as well as military. This standard is regulated by the international standards organisation for aviation, ICAO.

The fighter aircraft are given various degrees of alert, depending on the developments in the vicinity of Sweden and on the assessed level of threat. The highest state of alert means that pilots are ready to take off as soon as they are ordered to do so.