| The Draken in Danish Service |
In 1968 the Kongelige Danske Flyvevåben (Royal Danish Air Force) became SAAB's first export customer for the Draken, with an order for
two squadrons of the specially developed 35XD (export Denmark) strike/attack version. This variant of the Draken was based on the J35F.
The contract comprised 20 F35 ground attack fighters, twenty RF35 reconnaissance aircraft and six TF35 training variants. In 1973 five more
TF35s were ordered which had to be " hand-built" since the Viggen had by then replaced the Draken production line.
Denmark received their first deliveries on September 1st, 1970, when three F35s (Saab 35XD) were delivered to Karup AB.
The basic 35XD airframe differed from Swedish Draken versions in many ways, primarily as a result of the Danish optimisation for ground-attack
rather than air-defence. A general strengthening of aircraft structure was specified to accommodate heavy armament on nine reinforced weapons pylons and
a 40% increase in internal fuel capacity.
The avionics were updated in the mid-1980s in Denmark and included a Marconi head up display, a weapon delivery computer and a laser range finder which,
together with a new inertial navigation system, brought weapon aiming and navigation accuracy close to that of Denmark's F-16s. The last Danish Drakens
were withdrawn at the end of 1993 when Esk 729 was disbanded.
Sources:
Tony Buttler - Draken, A Swedish Masterpiece (Air Int'l 03-2000)
Jan Jorgensen - SAAB 35 Draken (ISBN 1 85310 729 8)
In the summary you can see the Flyvevåben operators of the Saab 35 Draken.
|
| Danish Draken Squadrons |
| Squadron: |
Base: |
Type: |
Number: |
Period: |
| Esk 725 |
Karup |
F35
TF35 |
20
6 |
1970 - 1991 |
| Esk 729 |
Karup |
RF35
TF35 |
20
6 |
1970 - 1993 |
Click the thumbnails to enlarge
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