Saab 32 Lansen

The Saab 32 Lansen, known in English as the Lance, is a two-seat, transonic military aircraft designed and manufactured by the Swedish company Saab AB. Its development began in the late autumn of 1946 as a successor to the Saab B 18/S 18 attack aircraft. However, it was not until December 1948 that an initial contract for the design and mockup of Saab’s proposed P1150 design was issued. As the design was refined, plans to use the indigenous STAL Dovern turbojet engine were abandoned due to technical difficulties, and instead, the license-built Rolls-Royce Avon powerplant was chosen. The first prototype of the Lansen took to the skies on November 3, 1952, and after successful flight testing and several refinements, series production commenced the following year.

Deliveries of the Lansen to the Swedish Air Force, known as Flygvapnet, took place between 1955 and 1960. It marked a significant milestone for the service as it was the first twin-seat jet aircraft and the first to be equipped with an integrated search radar. Three principal variants of the Lansen were produced, each serving different missions: attack (A 32A), fighter (J 32B), and reconnaissance (S 32C). Later-built aircraft were equipped with a more powerful model of the Avon engine and increasingly sophisticated electronics. Throughout its extensive operational life, the Lansen also found use in secondary roles, including as an electronic warfare platform, target tug, and research aircraft. The majority of Lansens were retired during the 1990s following the end of the Cold War.

The development of the Lansen began in autumn 1946 when Saab initiated internal studies to create a replacement for the Saab B 18/S 18, Sweden’s standard attack aircraft at the time. In 1948, the Swedish Government formally approached Saab, requesting the development of a turbojet-powered strike aircraft to replace several 1940s-era attack, reconnaissance, and night-fighter aircraft then in service with the Flygvapnet. These included the B 18/S 18, J 21R/A 21R, and J 30 (de Havilland Mosquito). Saab considered several different design studies, including a twin-engine aircraft powered by a pair of de Havilland Ghost turbojet engines, before settling on a single-engine design, initially designated as the P1150.

The basic design of the Lansen drew upon various materials obtained from Switzerland, including drawings from Messerschmitt’s P.1101, P.1110, P.1111, and P.1112 projects. Saab’s project manager, Frid Wänström, brought these secret papers from Switzerland to Sweden in 1945. The documents originated from Messerschmitt engineers who had fled to Switzerland at the end of World War II. Among them was the engineer and aerodynamicist Hermann Behrbohm, who became part of Saab’s core team working on the Saab 29 Tunnan and future aircraft types like the Saab 32 Lansen and Saab 35 Draken.

On December 20, 1948, a phase one contract for the design and mock-up of the proposed aircraft was issued, formally initiating the development of the P1150. The Swedish Air Force’s requirements for the P1150 were demanding: the aircraft had to be capable of attacking anywhere along Sweden’s 2,000 km coastline within one hour of launch from a central location, and it had to be operable in any weather conditions, day or night. In response, Saab decided to develop a twin-seat aircraft with a low-mounted wing and advanced electronics. The P1150 would break new ground for the Swedish Air Force, being their first two-seat jet aircraft and the first to carry a built-in search radar.

Initially, Saab envisioned powering the P1150 with the indigenously produced STAL Dovern turbojet engine. However, due to both timescale and technical difficulties encountered during the Dovern’s development, the Swedish government opted to replace the intended engine with the license-built Rolls-Royce Avon Series 100 turbojet engine, designated RM.5. The single Avon engine provided the Saab A 32A with a thrust-to-weight ratio of about 0.3 and allowed the aircraft to be roughly 10,000 pounds heavier than the twin-engine Saab 18 it replaced. The later-produced J 32B interceptor variant received the upgraded and significantly more powerful RM6A Avon engine instead.

The first P1150 prototype conducted its maiden flight on November 3, 1952. The prototypes initially featured both Fowler flaps and a leading-edge slot; however, the slot was deemed unnecessary after trials and was not included in subsequent production aircraft. Triangular fences were added near the wing roots during flight testing to improve airflow when the aircraft was flown at a high angle of attack. A small batch of P1150 prototypes completed design and evaluation trials, and series production of the newly designated Saab 32 Lansen began in 1953. The development work on the project was recorded as having involved more than 2,000,000 man-hours in total.

In 1955, the first production A 32A Lansen attack aircraft were delivered to the Swedish Air Force, with deliveries of this variant continuing until mid-1958. At that point, manufacturing activity switched to the other two variants of the Lansen, the J 32B and S 32C, which differed substantially from the first. The J 32B was fitted with a new engine for greater flight performance along with new navigation and fire control systems. The first J 32B Lansen conducted its maiden flight on January 7, 1957, followed by the first flight of the S 32C Lansen on March 26, 1957. Production of the Lansen continued until May 1960.

The Saab 32 Lansen featured a straightforward general arrangement and was one of the first aircraft in the world specifically developed to fly attack missions. From the outset, it was designed to accommodate electronic warfare and various weapons systems effectively. The aircraft could be armed with a total of four 20 mm cannons, as well as wing pylons for various calibers of rockets and assorted bombs. The J 32 variant carried four 30 mm ADEN cannons, while the A 32, designated for attack, had an armament of four 20 mm Bofors m/49 cannons hidden under flaps in the nose. The J 32 differed substantially from the other variant, described by Saab as “to all intents a new aircraft,” being fitted with a more powerful engine, newer armaments, and different radar.

The Lansen’s nose housed the Ericsson mapping and navigation radar, with the forward antenna contained in a large blister fairing underneath the fuselage, directly forward of the main landing gear. This radar worked in conjunction with the Rb 04C anti-ship missile, one of the earliest cruise missiles in Western service. The attack variant of the Lansen could carry up to two RB04 missiles, one underneath each wing. On the reconnaissance variant, up to six cameras could be installed in place of the four cannons, with the camera bodies requiring chin blisters on the upper fuselage of the nose. The Lansen could also carry up to 12 M62 flash bombs for night photography.

The fuselage of the Lansen was relatively well-streamlined, being the first aircraft for which the outer skin curvature and joints between skin panels were defined by mathematical calculation to reduce drag, achieved through an early application of computer technology. The wing had a 10 percent laminar profile and a 35° sweep. The primary flight control surfaces included hydraulically-boosted ailerons and large Fowler flaps on the wings, as well as hydraulically assisted elevators of the powered tailplane. A total of four airbrakes were also present on the sides of the rear fuselage. The Lansen had a tricycle undercarriage with a single wheel on all landing gear. Other wing features included one-section stall fences on the outer-thirds of the wing, a pitot tube on the right wingtip, and three underwing hardpoints. To test the 35° sweepback design of the Lansen’s wing, a half-scale wing was mounted on a Saab Safir, designated Saab 202 Safir.

The Lansen was powered by a single afterburning Svenska Flygmotor RM5 turbojet engine, a license-produced Rolls-Royce Avon RA.3/Mk.109 engine manufactured by Svenska Flygmotor. For easy maintenance access to the engine, the aircraft’s entire aft fuselage was detachable. The air intakes for the engine were located just forwards and above the wing. The two-man pilot and navigator crew were contained in a pressurized cockpit equipped with a single-piece clamshell canopy; a second windscreen separated the cockpit between the pilot and navigator to protect the latter in case of inadvertent jettisoning of the canopy.

On October 25, 1953, a Saab 32 Lansen achieved a Mach number of at least 1.12 while in a shallow dive, breaking the sound barrier. In December 1955, deliveries of the A 32A attack variant formally commenced, allowing for the swift retirement of the last piston-powered B 18 bomber from Swedish service shortly thereafter. According to Bill Gunston and Peter Gilchrist, the A 32A proved to be extremely effective, both in terms of serviceability and the accuracy of its armaments. Between 1958 and 1960, a total of 54 S32 C reconnaissance aircraft were manufactured. The last Lansen to be built was delivered to the Flygvapnet on May 2, 1960.

One intended use for the A 32A was as an aerial delivery system for nuclear or chemical weapons. During the 1950s and 1960s, Sweden operated a nuclear weapons program but never produced such weapons.

Accidents claimed a third of all Lansens during 25 years of service, resulting in the deaths of 100 crew members along with seven civilians in Vikbo. The accidents were attributed to a combination of technical faults, the aircraft not being ready for service, and training deficiencies related to flying at night and in adverse weather. In the 1960 Vikbo crash, pilot Uno Magnusson’s A 32A suffered an engine outage, and he ejected before the aircraft crashed into a farmhouse, killing all seven civilian occupants. The crash was due to a known fault that occurred when a drop tank was fitted; the fighter variant J32 B had been forbidden from using the drop tank. Replacement parts to correct the fault were available at the base but had not yet been fitted. The causes of the crash were suppressed from the public by the Flygvapnet press office; as the victims were civilians, they were not included in official accident statistics.

The A 32 Lansen was Sweden’s last purpose-built attack aircraft. The replacement of the A 32A formally began in June 1971, with the more advanced Saab 37 Viggen gradually taking over its attack responsibilities. As the type was slowly replaced by more modern aircraft, the Saab 32 continued to be operated into the late 1990s as target tugs and electronic warfare platforms, with a total of 20 J 32Bs converted for these duties. By 2010, at least two Lansens were still operational, tasked with taking high-altitude air samples for research purposes in collaboration with the Swedish Radiation Safety Authority; one of these aircraft collected volcanic ash samples in mid-2010. As of April 2020, all Saab 32 Lansen aircraft have been withdrawn from active service.