Defense and security company Saab announces that the Gripen E smart fighter flew supersonic for the first time. The aircraft broke the sound barrier over the Baltic Sea on the 18th October.

The Gripen E smart fighter flew at speeds greater than the speed of sound, at over Mach 1, as part of the ongoing flight trials program. The purpose was to collect data from the aircraft as it achieved and sustained supersonic speed. The flight took place over the Baltic sea and the aircraft sustained supersonic speed for a number of minutes, whilst carrying out maneuvers, demonstrating the successful combination of the aircraft’s fighter design and its powerful engine.  

“As Gripen pilots we are used to extreme speed but to go through the sound barrier for an aircraft’s first time is still a moment to enjoy. It is important that the aircraft handles the transition smoothly through what we call the transonic zone around the sound barrier and she certainly did, it was very smooth,” said Marcus Wandt, Test Pilot, Saab.

Welcoming the news, Jonas Hjelm, Senior Vice President and head of business area Aeronautics said, “Individual milestones such as this supersonic flight demonstrate the thoroughness of our engineering approach and the validity of the modeling. It is further evidence that the Gripen E flight test program is going extremely well, whilst the delivery schedule to our two customers remains our key focus.”

This milestone has been preceded by over 20 flying hours since the first flight back on 15 June 2017.

Saab serves the global market with world-leading products, services and solutions within military defense and civil security. Saab has operations and employees on all continents around the world. Through innovative, collaborative and pragmatic thinking, Saab develops, adopts and improves new technology to meet customers’ changing needs.