--- title: "Saab 35 Draken — OnlyPlanes" description: "Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War." canonical_url: "https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken" locale: en meta: keywords: "aviation, aircraft, airlines, airports, flight" "og:description": "Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War." "og:image": "https://onlyplanes.ru/images/military-aviation/models/saab-35-draken.webp" "og:title": "Saab 35 Draken — OnlyPlanes" --- > Index of every page on this site: [llms.txt](https://onlyplanes.ru/llms.txt) Fighter aircraft / J 35 # Saab 35 Draken Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War. ![Saab 35 Draken aircraft photograph](https://onlyplanes.ru/images/military-aviation/models/saab-35-draken.webp) Development ## History Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War. The new fighter had to reach high speed and intercept aircraft under a range of conditions. Engineers first tested its unusual wing shape with the smaller experimental Saab 210. A full-size Draken prototype made its first flight on 25 October 1955. The trials showed that the arrangement could support a supersonic aircraft, although refining the design and preparing pilots still required extensive work. The Draken is immediately recognisable by its double-delta wing. The inner wing has a different sweep from the outer panels, an arrangement intended to balance high-speed performance with manageable take-off and landing behaviour. The aircraft used one engine with afterburning, radar equipment, and weapons for interception. None of these systems stayed constant throughout production. An early service fighter and a late upgraded aircraft differed in capability, and performance figures need to be tied to a particular version. Draken became a major part of Sweden's air defence. Different variants served in the country's air force from the 1960s until the late 1990s. The Swedish defence system involved more than aircraft waiting on alert: bases, ground control, maintenance, and pilot training were all essential. As the perceived threat changed, the type was adapted for operations at lower altitude. What an individual aircraft could achieve depended on its radar, missiles, configuration, and connection to the wider command network. The family contained several J 35 fighter series, an S 35E reconnaissance version, and the SK 35C trainer. The later J 35J was produced by upgrading existing aircraft. Draken also travelled beyond Sweden through exports to Denmark, Finland, and Austria. Danish aircraft differed substantially from Swedish interceptors and undertook attack and reconnaissance work. Their equipment and missions should not be treated as typical of every Draken. The same caution applies to production totals and service dates from different national fleets. In its era, the fighter stood out for its unusual aerodynamic design and speed. It demonstrated that a country with a relatively small aviation industry could build a supersonic combat aircraft and support it for decades. Its legacy extends beyond the wing outline: testing, maintenance, and successive upgrades fed experience into later Swedish programmes. Comparing Draken with the later Viggen is useful only when their different original requirements are kept in view. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website","@type":"WebSite","description":"News, stories and rare images from the world of aviation","inLanguage":"en-GB","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en","publisher":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity"},"translationOfWork":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website"}},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken#webpage","@type":"WebPage","description":"Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War.","name":"Saab 35 Draken | OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#website"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken"]}],"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo"}},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity","@type":"Organization","name":"OnlyPlanes","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en","logo":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo"},"sameAs":["https://t.me/legkoenebo"]},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken#article","@type":"Article","description":"Saab developed the 35 Draken to defend Swedish airspace during the Cold War.","headline":"Saab 35 Draken","inLanguage":"en-GB","thumbnailUrl":"https://onlyplanes.ru/images/military-aviation/models/saab-35-draken.webp","author":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity"},"image":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#/schema/image/1"},"isPartOf":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken#webpage"},"mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en/military-aviation/fighter-aircraft/saab-35-draken#webpage"},"publisher":{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#identity"}},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#logo","@type":"ImageObject","caption":"OnlyPlanes","contentUrl":"https://onlyplanes.ru/search-logo.png","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/search-logo.png"},{"@id":"https://onlyplanes.ru/en#/schema/image/1","@type":"ImageObject","contentUrl":"https://onlyplanes.ru/images/military-aviation/models/saab-35-draken.webp","inLanguage":"en-GB","url":"https://onlyplanes.ru/images/military-aviation/models/saab-35-draken.webp"}]} ``` ## Sitemap See the full [sitemap](https://onlyplanes.ru/sitemap.md) for all pages.