Only time will tell whether or not Sweden’s domestically produced sixth-gen fighter will ever make it past the conception phase.

The United States and China are not the only nations racing to build sixth-generation fighter programs. While Washington’s Next-Generation Air Dominance (NGAD) family of systems and China’s J-36 fighter prototype continue to monopolize media headlines, other sixth-gen concepts have come to fruition in recent years. Swedish defense firm Saab, maker of the infamous JAS 39 Gripen platform, presented its own ideas for a next-gen crewed fighter and accompanying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) last year. Featured on a Swedish outlet, the futuristic renderings were discussed by the head of Advanced Programs at Saab, Peter Nilson. The conversation was published in part by the @GripenNews X handle, noting the “overall vision of multiple air system components sharing DNA.”

Back in 2019, Sweden joined the British sixth-generation BAE Systems Tempest project alongside Italy and later Japan. The manned next-generation multirole fighter collaboration is expected to embark on its first flight later in the decade, but without Sweden’s participation. Global Defense News reported in 2023 that Stockholm dropped out of the project. Shortly after this announcement was made, Saab reported that it had received an order for Swedish future fighter concept studies that “includes conceptual studies of manned and unmanned solutions in a system of system perspective, technology development, and demonstrations.” It appears Sweden is more interested in looking domestically in order to field a sixth-gen fighter program instead.

While limited details surrounding the proposed sixth-gen series have been divulged to the public, renderings of the Saab F-series have been thoroughly analyzed. According to The War Zone, the platform’s sleek, blended wing/body configuration mirrors the earlier Draken fighter, also manufactured by Saab. As a next-gen fighter, the jet is presented as a crewed futuristic aircraft designed to feature high speed and low observability. The uncrewed drones that will fly alongside the sixth-gen jet possess broad, cylindrical shapes that look somewhat like subsonic cruise missiles.

The use of uncrewed “loyal wingmen drones” to support piloted fighters is being tested by China and the United States as well. In the U.S. Air Force’s NGAD program, highly autonomous drones dubbed as Collective Combat Aircraft are expected to play a major role in the sixth-gen “family of systems.” Similarly, China’s J-36 is anticipated to incorporate drones for collaborative combat operations as well. Since UAVs are cheaper to produce, easier to field, and can partake in riskier mission sets, it is no wonder their incorporation in sixth-gen programs is being explored across the board.

Despite the news of Sweden’s withdrawal from the joint Tempest endeavor and the release of images depicting a homegrown fighter series, the chief of the Swedish Air Force has stated that the future of the fighter program is still in the air. As detailed in a Simple Flying report, Stockholm could easily return to the Tempest project, focus on its Saab-F concept, or even pivot to join the Franco-German FCAS project. Only time will tell whether or not Sweden’s domestically produced sixth-gen fighter will ever make it past the conception phase.

About the Author: Maya Carlin

Maya Carlin, National Security Writer with The National Interest, is an analyst with the Center for Security Policy and a former Anna Sobol Levy Fellow at IDC Herzliya in Israel. She has by-lines in many publications, including The National Interest, Jerusalem Post, and Times of Israel. You can follow her on Twitter: @MayaCarlin. Carlin has over 1,000 articles published over the last several years on various defense issues.

Image: VanderWolf Images / Shutterstock.com

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