Given the small size of Sweden's population and economy, it is really mind-boggling that several generations of very advanced fighter- and attack aircraft that has been developed here. During a long period following WWI, a strongly pacifistic movement moved resources away from the national defense and at the time when Hitler’s forces supported Franco in eliminating the town of Guernica in 1937 during the Spanish civil war, it became evident that the future of warfare was air power.

At the time of Hitler’s invasion of Poland in 1939, the Swedish air force was hopelessly outdated, but then a massive shift in resources was made. During the following twenty years to come, Sweden created one of the largest air forces in the world – in absolute terms. Where the pre-WWII designs were more or less copy-cats of American, British and German designs, the highly innovative and Swedish designed jet fighter J29 Tunnan “The Barrel” made its first flight in 1948. The fighter/attack jet J32 Lansen “The Lance” first flew in 1952. The delta-wing J35 Draken “The Dragon” in 1955. In the early 1960’s, the air force had more than 1000 planes in operation. In 1967, the JA37 Viggen "Thunderbolt" made its maiden flight. Surprisingly, Sweden developed yet another advanced multi-role aircraft, the JAS39 Gripen "The Griffon", which made its maiden flight in 1988.

With Sweden’s strong position of being a neutral power between the NATO and Warsaw Pact, having a domestic military aircraft industry has always been an almost religious issue. Since its foundation in 1940, the Swedish Aeronautical Institute has performed state-of-the art R&D in supporting these ambitious domestic aircraft projects. With the fall of the Berlin wall and the new security doctrines as a result of being an EU member have led to massive cuts in the institute’s operations, resulting in large parts being closed.

As a Swedish taxpayer, it is somewhat shocking to walk around in these grand empty premises and watch the advanced and once top-secret equipment that now will end up on the scrap heap. Without any real figures on hand, the billions and billions of government money that have been fed into to the defense just gets so visible and live here. The speed and determination that built this institute during the WWII and the following years with the reality of the cold war and the "money-is-not-an-issue" feeling is so pervasive and when walking down into the giant halls in the underground, the threat of a nuclear attack suddenly gets alive.
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