Compiled by Urban Fredriksson, <urf@icl.se>
SAAB 32 LANSEN, a short history 1993 July 16
Lansen means The Lance.
By 1945, it was clear that future combat aircraft would be jet
propelled. We got jet fighters in 1946, in the form of Vampires,
but to find a replacement for our Saab 18 bomber was to take
longer. That project was started in 1946. The first concepts had
two de Havilland Ghost engines, with short in- and outlets.
Flying wing concepts figured, and were strong contenders, but
mainly because of accidents with foreign aircraft of that
configuration, was abandoned.
Most concepts had four 20 mm cannon and an internal rocket
launcher for a dozen 15-18 cm rockets. Other armaments was two
500 kg bombs or a missile type 303. In 1948 it was decided to go
for a smaller, single engine aircraft "project 1150". The
requirement was for an aircraft that "could carry its weapons -
guns, rockets, bombs and missiles - from a centrally placed air
base to any part of our 2000 km coast line, in under one hour, in
any weather and during darkness" In 1949 it was awarded the
designation "type 32".
By 1949, the design looked very much like what it became, apart
from the stabilizer beeing placed halfway up on the fin. There
was also a smaller, single-seat variant, which would have been a
daylight interceptor.
Lansen was the first aircraft designed in Sweden where the design
work was not based on ordinary blue-prints, but on a mathematical
coordinate system. The airframe was designed to withstand +12G
and -8G.
To test a large scale model of the wing, with 35 degrees
sweepback, a half-scale was mounted on a Saab Safir, thus
becoming the only Saab 202 (Saab 201 was a Safir with a
half-scale Tunnan wing). It had both Fowler flaps and a leading
edge slot. The slot was discarded as unnecessary after trials
with the prototypes and never appeared on a series aircraft.
The engine intended for Lansen was the Swedish STAL Dovern (RM
4), which was an excellent engine. It was not finished in time
for the prototypes, so a foreign engine had to be used for them.
For several reasons, Rolls-Royce Avons came to be used on the
series aircraft too.
The first Lansen prototype first flew on Nov 3:rd 1952
Designations:
A, Attack = Strike
J, Jakt = Interceptor
S, Spaning = Reconnaissance
SWEDISH AIR FORCE VARIANTS
designation number delivered in service serial numbers
-----
A 32A 287 1955-58 -1978 32001-32287
This version had four 20 mm guns in the nose, covered by
shutters. The shutters were opened upon "safety off", but had to
be closed by command. Empty casings were kept from the air
intakes by a pair of small plates under the nose. As they then
impacted the fuel tank, its nose were covered in neoprene to
protect it.
As these aircraft always operated in groups, and as an economy
measure only about 25% of them were given radars. It also seems
like not all aircraft had navigators aboard, so it's likely that
everybody just followed the boss.
In Swedish service they replaced Saab B/T 18 bombers, foremost in
the anti-ship/invasion role, so the main weapon was the Saab 304
rocket powered anti-ship missile with an estimated range of 20 km
in the early versions, other common loads were unguided rockets.
They were given chaff dispensers early on, and in 1963 work was
initiated on ECM jamming pods.
Engine: RM5A (=RR Avon Mk.21/21A) with Swedish afterburner.
-----
J 32B 118 1958-60 -1973(->) 32501-32620
This version has sometimes been called an all-weather fighter,
but more realistically it could only be used as a night fighter,
as its agility wasn't up to the standard of fighers smaller than
it. They replaced 60 DH.112 Venoms.
As it was primarily intended to attack bombers, 20 mm guns
weren't considered enough, so instead four 30 mm cannon was
adopted. There were no shutters before the muzzles. Casings were
retained, so the tank didn't need any protective covering.
Some aircraft were given an IR detector under the left wing, in
front of the landing gear, of the same type as given to J
35A-long Drakens.
Main armament was Sidewinder missiles, but in case of clouds
they were complemented by unguided rockets which were fired by
radar sighting.
As the engine was more powerful and required a larger airflow,
the air intakes were made slightly larger, and the nozzle is of a
different type.
Engine: RM6A (=RR Avon Mk.47A) with Swedish afterburner, 6900 kp.
Three are still in service with the target towing and aggressor
squadron for continuation flying and target work that doesn't
require any extra equipment.
-----
S 32C 44 1958-59 -1978 32901-32945
At first, these aircraft were mostly supposed to replace Saab
S 18 radar equipped reconnaissance aircraft in the maritime
surveillance role, this beeing the priority mission. Daylight
photography was supposed to be handled by Saab S 29C Tunnans,
later to be replaced by Saab S 35E Drakens. The radar was an
improved version of the one used on A 32As.
So, only enough cameras to equip 3 aircraft per squadron were
purchased. This version was very similar to A 32A, with the
cameras mounted in the gun bays. The nose had to be reprofiled on
the bottom and given bulges above to make space for them. The
cameras proved to be sub-standard, so they were never installed.
When new cameras were bought, they were larger, so the nose
bulges had to be enlarged from 1962 and on. These were also
suitable for daylight work.
For night photography, magnesium photo-flash bombs were carried.
Normal radar recce work consisted of cruising at 10 m, followed
by brief pop ups to 100 m with 15-20 s of radar work.
-----
J 32D 6 1972-?? -> Modified J 32Bs
Modified J 32Bs, used for target towing.
-----
J 32E 15 1972-?? -> Modified J 32Bs
Modified J 32Bs, used for ECM and ECM training.
The nose radar is replaced by a "G 24" jamming equipment,
existing in three versions (L, S, or C band) against ground and
ship based radars, which are also the targets for the jamming pod
"Adrian" (S and C band) carried under the wings. The pod "Petrus"
works in the X band, and is used against aircraft. In addition to
this, BOZ 3 chaff dispensers are carried. The name of the signal
reciever is "Ingeborg".
These and the J 32Ds will continue flying for a long time, until
they become too expensive to operate and it's cheaper to buy
other aircraft.
----- |
____n____
_________(_)__________
u All versions: A 600 litre conformal tank. Not exactly
jettisonable, but if the wavetops became too high,
it fell off.
There were six pylon attachment points under each wing.
A 32A Fixed armament: four 20 mm cannon with 180 rounds each.
rrrrrr rrrrrr 24 x 135, 150 mm blast rockets;
rrrrrr rrrrrr 24 x 145, 180 mm anti armour rockets
bbbbbb bbbbbb 50 kg, 120 kg bombs, 80 kg flares
B B B B 240 kg, 500 kg bombs, 500 kg napalm
B B B 600 kg bomb
M M Rb 04 (Saab 304), anti-ship missile, 616 kg, rocket
C Chaff dispenser, BOZ 3
-----
J 32B Fixed armament: Four 30 mm cannon with 90 rounds each.
R R Pods with 19 x 75 mm rockets.
M M M M Missiles: Rb 24 (AIM-9B) Sidewinder
-----
S 32C
iiiiii iiiiii 75 kg magnesium flash bombs
C Chaff dispenser, BOZ 3
-----
J 32D
t Target towing pod
bb Dummy 120 kg counterweight bombs
-----
J 32E
C C Chaff dispenser, BOZ 3
E E ECM jammer pods of different types (they look the same)
-----
Length: 14.94 m, Span 13.0 m, Height: 4.65 m
Empty weigth: 8000 kg, Max take off weight: 13500 kg, Max load: 2000 kg
Max speed: Mach 0.95
Internal fuel: 3500 litres; External tank: 600 litres.
[Main source _Lansen_ by Sven Stridsberg]
--
Urban Fredriksson urf@icl.se