Dispersed operations with Gripen - resilient combat effect that counts

The new credo in air warfare is ‘disperse to survive’. The shocking experience of Russia’s all-out attack on Ukraine from February 2022 onwards suddenly reminded everyone of the vulnerability of peacetime operating concepts. Now, air forces everywhere are proclaiming a ‘strategic shift in how we operate in the modern era’. New buzzwords are being deployed like ACE (or Agile Combat Employment), ADO (Aviation Distributed Operations), and commanders are proudly promoting their ability to disperse and operate from austere facilities well away from main operating bases.

The threat driving this change in military priorities is clear. Advances in long range precision fire weapons and ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance) technologies make it easy to accurately and repeatedly target and destroy fixed facilities over very long ranges. The proliferation of these systems makes any operation liable to attack and so forces friendly assets to be constantly on the move. 

Yet is this really something new? Is it really a ‘strategic doctrinal shift’ in how we should expect to operate? The job of air forces has always been to deploy, fight and sustain the fight in the face of determined opposition. Ask the average person on the street and they’d say ‘yes of course our fighting units should to be able to get out and beat the enemy, be effective and win. Otherwise, what is the value of the investment?

But the new-found interest in dispersed and deployed operations shows that most of today’s air forces now realise they are very vulnerable indeed. They no longer have a force structure that can cope with the actual conditions they will face. With too few aircraft tied to too few bases, too many air forces have ceased to be flexible and agile. A reality that prevents air forces to reliably conduct operations when under enemy attack.

Many argue, that this situation is directly linked to the falling budgets and rising costs that have affected all militaries over recent decades. At the same time, too many air force fighter procurements have ended up with platforms crippled by excessive acquisition and operating costs that quickly become unaffordable to operate in the long-term. As a result, fighter numbers have been cut across the board, the aircraft that are acquired fly and train less, are often not fully mission capable and their operating facilities have become ‘superbases’ where all essential mission support infrastructure is concentrated because it’s too laboursome expensive to duplicate. 

CREDIBLE, SUSTAINED OFFENSIVE AIR POSTURE – TO NEUTRALISE ANY THREAT

To be able to use your fighter force for effective, dispersed wartime operations it is essential to first have a fighter that’s designed to be easily supported and deployed; not just for hours or days but for weeks and months. A fighter that does not need exquisite maintenance facilities, a fighter that keeps working in the worst conditions, a fighter that can be kept in the air by a small team in times of crisis and war, a fighter that is not crippled up by the need to connect to classified networks just to turn it on each day. Essentially, sustained high-tempo operations need to be designed in, both for the fighter itself, it’s support system as well as the operator’s doctrine, from the outset.

These are all difficult requirements, but not impossible. For many decades, Sweden has operated a network of dispersed air bases for its national defence. They exist at several levels of size and complexity, from concealed wartime bases to road-strips on civilian highways. Sweden also designed and developed very efficient task-orientated equipment to operate from these hidden away locations; not just advanced the fighters but all the required support equipment, air defence systems, command, control and communication networks. 

The ultimate evolution of this operationally focussed mindset is Saab’s Gripen fighter system. Gripen is at the heart of this dispersed and deployed concept for air force survival. It is the fighting machine designed from Day One to operate with minimal support and maximum effect in crisis and all-out war. And not just in Sweden. Gripen’s Swedish design heritage for real dispersed operations is a transferable skill, just as suitable for expeditionary operations anywhere in the world. The basic requirements for lethality, survivability, interoperability and support are shared by every air force and Gripen puts that level of unmatched capability in the hands of any operator, large or small. The Gripen fighter delivers proven state-of-the-art availability owing to the system’s inherent reliability, on-condition support philosophy and ease of maintenance, allowing small teams of only 4-5 technicians/conscripts to fully re-arm and refuel the Gripen for any mission, within 15 minutes.

Gripen is getting ready for mission. The RBS 15 (Robotsystem 15) is a long-range fire-and-forget surface-to-surface and air-to-surface anti-ship missile, here together with AIM-120 AMRAAM, Advanced Medium-Range, Air-to-Air Missile.

As air forces around the world have repeatedly demonstrated, Gripen fighters can be deployed almost anywhere with minimal support, to maintain enduring high tempo operations far away from home. Even a small Gripen force can reliably support simultaneous deployments overseas for coalition operations along with essential national defence missions at home. Because Gripen is designed for the worst-case scenario of conflict against an opposition of much larger numbers, its operational strengths, capabilities, and unbeaten availability align with the highest demands of air force doctrine anywhere, essentially to neutralise any aggression towards your nation’s border, of any scale. 
Gripen makes actual dispersed operations in combat a reality and not just a show for the cameras. The only way to effectively demonstrate a credible, sustainable offensive air posture – to keep your nation, society and people safe.