Saab’s Gripen-F fighter jet, the twin-seat model of its most superior JAS 39 Gripen, has accomplished its maiden flight. With this milestone, Saab joins the group of producers providing a contemporary twin-seat fight plane.
The Gripen F performed its first flight on August 28, 2026, taking off from Linköping airfield at 09:40 native time and remaining airborne for about 40 minutes, Saab announced in a press release. “This inaugural sortie efficiently verified the performance of the plane core programs and its preliminary flight efficiency,” it said.
The inaugural sortie was flown by Saab chief check pilot Jakob Högberg and Brazilian Air Pressure check pilot Lt. Col. Aviator Abdon de Rezende Vasconcelos.
Saab claims that the principle objective of the flight was to substantiate the plane’s major programs and preliminary flying traits.
The plane will now endure a extra complete testing process that may contain step by step increasing its permitted flight envelope. Furthermore, the trouble will subsequently embrace the plane’s pace, altitude, G-loading, and angle-of-attack limitations, in addition to the tactical capabilities and gear, significantly associated to the rear cockpit, the producer famous.
The maiden flight befell greater than two months after the two-seater Gripen-F was formally unveiled on June 2, 2026, at a ceremony in Linköping, Sweden, as EurAsian Occasions reported on the time.
Notably, Brazil actively participated in co-developing the two-seat mannequin as the primary buyer for the Gripen-E, enabling direct industrial involvement and a long-term partnership. Brazil signed a contract with Saab in 2014 for 36 plane—28 single-seat Gripen E fighters and eight Gripen F fighters.
The deal included noteworthy expertise switch, native manufacturing in Brazil by Embraer, and help packages.
By means of a complete transfer-of-technology (ToT) program, Brazil has strengthened the superior design and growth capabilities of its nationwide industrial base whereas coaching a whole bunch of engineers and technicians.
“Gripen F is the results of the strategic partnership between Brazil and Sweden, in addition to the in depth expertise switch carried out underneath the Brazilian Gripen Program. Greater than 350 Brazilian engineers, technicians and pilots have participated in coaching actions associated to the event, manufacturing, flight testing and upkeep of the plane,” Saab emphasised.
“This primary flight represents an essential step ahead for each Saab and the Brazilian Air Pressure,” Lars Tossman, head of Saab enterprise space Aeronautics, mentioned concerning the first flight. “Seeing Gripen F take to the skies is especially important for all of the Swedish and Brazilian groups whose years of engineering work have helped flip this plane right into a actuality.”
After the check marketing campaign is full, the Gripen F will endure acceptance procedures earlier than being delivered to Brazil. “Designed for an period of fast transformation, Gripen F delivers world-class efficiency, sensors, and revolutionary structure, mirroring Gripen E,” Saab had earlier mentioned in an official assertion on the time of its unveiling.
The Gripen-F’s maiden flight comes as Gripen-E enjoys a robust yr on the export market.
After dropping a number of contests to heavyweights equivalent to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 Lightning II and Dassault Aviation’s Rafale, the plane has secured almost $10 billion in new export orders. It is a main win for the fighter, contemplating it confronted a decade-long drought within the export market after Brazil’s 2014 deal.
The plane made its official comeback in 2025, with Thailand ordering 4 jets and Colombia ordering one other 17. Extra just lately, in June 2026, war-ravaged Ukraine signed a take care of Saab to buy 16 Gripen-E fighters. The plane, together with spare elements and related gear, will likely be delivered between 2029 and 2030, the corporate said on the time.
At present, Saab is re-pitching the Gripen-E/F to Canada because the nation opinions its buy of F-35A Lightning II stealth fighters amid tensions with Washington. In the meantime, nations equivalent to Portugal, the Philippines, and Peru have expressed curiosity within the plane, though formal negotiations haven’t gotten underway, a minimum of publicly.
Swedish Protection Minister Pål Jonson earlier indicated that the Air Pressure was contemplating buying the Gripen-F to increase coaching capability, though a purchase order has but to be finalized.
Nonetheless, the event and first flight of the Gripen-F marks the plane’s entry right into a membership of producers more and more turning in direction of twin-seat jets.
Two of the most important European contemporaries of the Gripen—the Rafale and the Eurofighter Hurricane — even have two-seat variants.
Moreover, China has unveiled the J-20S fifth-generation stealth fighter, Russia has unveiled the Su-57D fifth-generation stealth fighter, and South Korea is producing the twin-seater KF-21, as EurAsian Occasions noted earlier.
Gripen-F
The dual-seat model of the cutting-edge Gripen-E was created primarily for coaching.
Gripen-E is a single-seat, 4.5-generation multirole fighter that gives robust beyond-visual-range fight functionality, a contemporary cockpit with a large-area show, and important progress potential by means of its modular design. It’s optimized for prime availability, low working prices, fast turnaround, and operations from quick or tough airstrips or dispersed bases.
The Gripen F provides a second cockpit for instructors and trainee pilots whereas sustaining the identical mission programs, sensors, and efficiency attributes because the single-seat Gripen E. “The addition of a completely unbiased second cockpit permits instructor-guided missions in a completely operational fighter, giving trainee pilots practical reside mission circumstances,” Saab mentioned earlier in its assertion, including that it’ll dramatically scale back the pilot coaching schedule.
Whereas this configuration is designed to allow conversion coaching and mission preparation, it’s also meant to supply advantages throughout difficult fight missions by dividing cockpit effort. That is evident by the truth that the Gripen-F retains all of Gripen-E’s mission programs and full compatibility with the weapons and programs of its predecessor, together with the AESA radar, beyond-visual-range missiles, and digital warfare.
Sometimes, a twin-seat configuration might allow the fighter to undertake missions wherein a second crew member manages sensors or communications—equivalent to digital warfare, aerial command-and-control (C2), or the coordination of precision-guided weapons.
In high-threat or complicated missions, a single pilot faces intense cognitive load whereas managing sensors, weapons, digital warfare, communications, and the battlespace as an entire. Nevertheless, in a two-seater fighter jet such because the Gripen-F, the rear-seat crew member—as a weapons programs officer, mission coordinator, or second pilot—can deal with particular duties, together with sensor administration, goal identification, digital warfare, communications, or broader battlespace orchestration, permitting the front-seat pilot to give attention to plane management and quick tactical engagement.
This division improves situational consciousness, choice high quality, and response pace, particularly when threats multiply or programs are degraded.
Along with distributing workshare, the dual-seat variant might supply a novel drone-mothership functionality, with the second pilot controlling the loyal wingman drones.
The rear-seat operator can command, monitor, and management a number of drones with out overloading the pilot. They may assign the drone duties equivalent to reconnaissance in contested airspace, digital warfare, suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD/DEAD), precision strikes, multi-axis assaults, or performing as decoys or sensors.
Saab emphasizes that the second crew member might present resilient human decision-making, augmented by synthetic intelligence, even when communications are degraded or jammed. In actual fact, the Gripen F will function a ahead battle supervisor, conserving people central whereas leveraging autonomy for high-risk or high-volume duties.
Saab has already positioned its stealthy, supersonic Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) “fighter drone” as a complement to the single-seat Gripen E, describing it as “an amazing asset to the Gripen E.”
The corporate envisions the Gripen E performing as a tactical mission commander for a number of ACPs, working alongside Saab’s GlobalEye airborne early warning and management (AEW&C) plane.
In the meantime, the Swedish Protection Minister Pål Jonson has publicly described a loyal wingman part as a “pure additional growth of the Gripen system” for deep operations with the mom platform.
Towards that background, it’s protected to imagine that the dual-crew benefits of the Gripen F, when paired with the ACP loyal wingman drone, might additional bolster Saab’s export alternatives and the Swedish Air Pressure’s fight prowess.
