Saab has unveiled its A3 collaborative combat aircraft concept—an autonomous, tailless, supersonic, double-delta-wing air vehicle—that could be rapidly developed in the early 2030s to provide what the company describes as a “peer-capable complement” to its Gripen E. The A3 could also serve as a conceptual and technological steppingstone toward meeting Sweden’s need for a future crewed combat aircraft in the 2040s.
- Tailless Draken-like A3 would complement crewed fighters
- Saab is developing two uncrewed combat aircraft demonstrators
- The OEM has created an AI fighter pilot academy to train autonomous models
Saab previously teased the A3 concept’s almost 1960s-era, J-35 Draken-like planform but never stated its intentions for the platform.
The approach contrasts with lower-cost, potentially attritable aircraft such as Boeing’s MQ-28 Ghost Bat, BAE Systems’ Brontanax and the General Atomics and Anduril designs competing in the U.S. Air Force’s Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) program. The A3 appears to be more closely aligned with French plans to pair the Dassault Rafale with an uncrewed combat air vehicle derived from the Neuron.
Saab argues that CCAs will inevitably become more high-end as “mission creep” drives commanders to demand greater performance and survivability as well as more capable sensors and electronic warfare systems to perform a broader range of missions.
Moreover, given Europe’s lack of vast closed airspace such as in the U.S., CCAs will need to operate routinely in controlled airspace and therefore require certification, rather than simply being brought “out from a container in the event of war,” Saab says.
The concept emerges as the Swedish government considers how to replace its Gripen fighters in the 2040s. Stockholm launched studies in 2024 under its Combat Aviation Pathway, now known as the Swedish Concept Air Program (SWAP), to assess whether to continue developing fighters domestically and produce a Gripen successor, join an international program or simply purchase a foreign combat aircraft. The government is due to make a decision by 2030 and potentially as soon as 2028.
But the A3 is not Saab’s answer to Stockholm’s question, Peter Nilsson, head of the airframer’s advanced programs unit, told journalists ahead of the Swedish Air Force’s 100th Anniversary Airshow in Linkoping, Sweden, on Aug. 21. Rather, the CCA is an “offer” to help move the Swedish Air Force “into the unmanned space” and complement the Gripen E in combat.
The A1—planned to be larger but considerably lighter than the Gripen E—is due to fly in the next 15 months. Credit: Tony Osborne/AW&ST
Even if the service does not pursue the A3, its development would nevertheless be “a good steppingstone for the future fighter, be it manned or unmanned,” Nilsson said. “From A3, there will be an A4 and an A5, leading us up to the core fighter, . . . a step toward something awesome.” Saab’s proposed road map suggests development of that core fighter could begin in the 2040s.
As part of SWAP, Saab is rapidly prototyping a supersonic, autonomous, low-observable demonstrator—codenamed the A1—that it plans to fly within the next 15 months. The GE Aerospace F414-powered A1 is planned to be slightly larger than a Gripen E, albeit lighter. It features a conventional delta wing and canted V-tails. Wind tunnel testing has been conducted in the Netherlands, and elements of the aircraft are in various stages of assembly at Saab facilities.
The A1 will be followed by the A2, another F414-powered CCA demonstrator scheduled to fly toward the end of the decade. The A2 will be similar in design and configuration to the A1 but will feature an internal weapon bay. Engineers have made provision for a bay in the A1 but not equipped it with one.
Nilsson would not clarify whether a weapon would be released from the A2’s bay, but such a test would be valuable. Saab has not built an aircraft with an internal weapon bay since the World War II-era B17 dive bomber.
Saab is building elements of the A1 demonstrator to prove Swedish industry can move from concept to first flight in just 36 months. Credit: Saab
The A1 and A2 are among several technology demonstrations funded by Sweden’s defense materiel agency FMV to support the SWAP decision. Work on the A3 is supported by internal company funding.
Beyond proving technologies such as low observability, the demonstrators are intended to show that Swedish industry can move from concept to first flight in just 36 months.
Swedish Air Force Chief Maj. Gen. Jonas Wikman told Aviation Week that CCA capabilities would arrive earlier than originally expected but that there is currently no plan or funding for their introduction.
Wikman would not, however, comment on whether Saab’s high-end approach or the lower-cost concepts being pursued by some of his fellow European air chiefs represent the right direction, saying only that they are “probably both correct.”
Potential roles for the A3 include acting as a loyal wingman—or “flying fighting comrade,” as Nilsson put it—as well as performing high-risk missions including forward sensing, deep precision strike and suppression and destruction of enemy air defenses.
Acquisition cost could be around half that of a Gripen, Nilsson said, and life-cycle costs potentially around one-third as high. The ratio of A3s to crewed aircraft could be around 2:1 or 3:1.
Nilsson noted that some U.S.-developed attritable platforms cost $20-25 million apiece. That may be inexpensive by U.S. standards, he says, but not necessarily for a European air service.
The A3 would be autonomous but receive high-level commands issued by the Gripen pilot through voice or hands-on-throttle-and-stick controls that are in development.
To develop the required autonomous systems, Saab has established an artificial intelligence (AI) fighter pilot academy that uses a series of scenarios to train AI pilots for different missions.
The AI can be adapted from an “aggressive pilot to a balanced pilot” or from a “collaborative pilot to a friendly pilot,” said Dennis Malmgren, head of the academy’s development.
Alongside the air vehicle, Saab is exploring CCA self-defense suites derived from its Arexis electronic warfare technology that have a smaller footprint in terms of size, weight, power and cost.
Development would be “driven very much by telecommunications industry technology,” said Jonas Grönberg, Saab’s head of strategy and product portfolio for electronic warfare.
An engine has not yet been selected for the A3. Nilsson said Saab is in discussions with several propulsion providers.
The Swedish manufacturer is not ignoring the low end of the adjunct market. Saab’s Rainforest technology incubator is closing in on the first flight of the Ruby, a low-cost, fixed-wing uncrewed demonstrator intended to prove new approaches to airframe design and manufacturing as well as the potential use of cellphone technology in avionics.
The Ruby’s airframe was built by Torrance, California-based Divergent Technologies, which announced delivery of the initial fuselages last December. The aircraft is 15 ft. long and comprises 26 unique printed parts, the company said at the time.
Nilsson said platforms such as the Ruby could pave the way for “mass for real,” enabled by their low-cost approach to production and internal systems.
Saab’s CCA bet, then, is not simply on high-end capability but on having the right mix of high- and low-cost capabilities for the fight.
