Through the Gripen the Swedish Air Force has entered a new age of advanced, deployable air power. A total of eight Gripen A and 280 personnel make up SWAFRAP. The unit will stand at permanent 30-day readiness - able to position a path-finding team in theatre just 15 days after the approval to deploy. The operational remit for SWAFRAP calls for its Gripens to be ready to fly from any foreign location within a 4,000 km radius of Brussels.

The three-week Co-Operative Key NATO PfP (Partnership for Peace) exercise that began in Bulgaria at the end of August 2003 was the first 'all-up' rehearsal, outside Sweden, for the SWAFRAP Gripens. Eight Gripen were deployed to participate in a 20-nation multinational team conducting Peace Support Operation (PSO) scenarios. This was the first time Gripens had deployed with a full planning staff and the complete infrastructure of the 'real world' SWAFRAP.

In September 2004, SWAFRAP Gripens will participate in "Nordic Air Meet 2004", a major multinational exercise at F21 airbase in Luleå in the north of Sweden. Gripens will fly joint tactical missions with Swiss and Finnish F-18 Hornets, as well as F-16s from Norway and Denmark.

Truly interoperable aircraft
The Gripens of SWAFRAP will be fully available for all air-to-air missions. The aircraft also have a secondary radar reconnaissance role. In 2004 one of F17's Gripen squadrons will take delivery of its first Gripen C. The SwAF Gripen C, equivalent to the export standard Gripen, introduces air-to-air refueling, enhanced mission systems with full-color large screen cockpit displays, expanded weapons systems (with full NATO compatibility) and an integrated reconnaissance capability. These aircraft will take on the SWAFRAP role from 2006, again in the hands of F17 Wing.