Gripen fighters – Up where they belong

Colonel Petr Mikulenka is the Base Commander for Cáslav Air Base in the Czech Republic that today operates Gripen multi-role fighters which have replaced its fleet of MiG-21 interceptors. From 1998 he was responsible for the introduction of the Gripen system into the Czech Air Force and also the Czech Air Force programme to join NATO.

Colonel Mikulenka was also one of the first Gripen instructor pilots in the Czech Air Force. From a force Commander and pilots’ perspective, Colonel Mikulenka knows all about what is required for fighter aircraft operations on the front line.

Czech Gripen fighter soars over St.Stephane airfield in Switzerland. Photographer: Peter Liander

10/1/2008 | As the 2005 calendar flipped over from 30 June to 1 July, the Czech Air Force shifted into a new era in one fluid motion. Over the course of one duty day the Czechs stood down their veteran MiG-21 interceptor force and brought their brand new Gripen multi-role fighters directly into service. Backed by a fully trained pilot and engineer corps, the Czech Gripens were immediately declared to the NATO air defence system and stood ready on 24-hour quick reaction alert (QRA).

The Czechs began full-scale flight operations with their Gripens on 1 May, about two weeks after the first aircraft were delivered. A cycle of QRA training sorties was initiated that saw the Gripens chalk up around 300 sorties for QRA preparation and qualification alone, over four months. In the middle of that process the aircraft went ‘live’ and never once was a planned sortie abandoned because of an aircraft problem.

Validation came on 1 July 2005 when, effectively one year after contract signature, armed Gripens stood on alert at Casláv Air Base in the Czech Republic. To date, the Czech Air Force has flown approximately 4800 hours in 5100 missions and more than 50% of these hours and missions are with the Gripen C (single seater) from the QRA.

“I will be honest with you”, says Colonel Mikulenka, “we looked at this transition plan and wondered – is it possible? But we believed. Moving to the Gripen is not just about the aircraft, it’s a whole new system. Everything changes - our rules, our whole approach - but in the end, it was just another normal working day. We finished with the MiG-21’s and minutes later we were working with the Gripens. There was no buffer zone. Yes, it took a lot of preparation, but we did it for real. No cheating. We are fully integrated into NATO.”

“We are doing a lot of dog fighting” says Mikulenka. “The Gripen has changed Czech Air Force operations in ways that are not always obvious, but which have a sizeable effect on Air Force capabilities”, says Mikulenka. “We are flying non-stop during the winter. The Gripen is perfect for winter ops. In the air with the MiG-21 we had a 1,000 ft standard minima in bad weather. In a Gripen it’s 200 ft – the leap in technology makes a difference at every level”.

If anyone asks for proof that Gripen has been a successful fighter for the Czech Republic its enough to mention the amount of hours we are flying. Our pilots in the Gripen squadron get about 160 flight hours per year. Since Gripen was introduced in the summer of 2005 we have flown more than 5, 500 missions. That is big numbers for us, and I think, for most air forces. This accomplishment gets even bigger considering the fact that the first year we only had 8 pilots, the second year it increased to 14 pilots and now we are about 20 Gripen pilots in the Czech Air Force.

The first half year after the introduction of Gripen those 8 pilots, and I was lucky to be one of them, flew almost 1, 000 missions. We could have flown more but we were just too tired. We flew 7 days a week, in operations and at air shows. There was such a big interest, everybody wanted to see us. Looking at the time line, one year after the contract was signed with the Swedish Government we were flying the aircraft in the Czech Republic; that is unbelievable.

We became the first to use Gripen C/D fighters in NATO Quick Reaction Alert in July 2005. Day and night, every day of the year we are on 15 minutes standby with 2 aircraft. On average, we do 3 scrambles per weekday and 2 per day on weekends, most of them for training. With the ILS system Gripen has, we can fly in almost any weather day and night. Another kind of NATO mission that is the first time for us is that in 2009, we will be in the rotation to perform QRA over the Baltic States, at the same time as we also have the QRA over Czech territory. We don´t foresee any problems because with 14 Gripen aircraft, we can be at two places at the same time and accomplish this mission.

Another ‘first’ for the Czech Air Force was when we took part in the ‘North Arrow’ exercise at the Vidsel range in the north of Sweden. That was the first time in Czech history that we launched ‘live’ Sidewinder IR-missiles. We launched the Sidewinders both from the wing-tip and from one of the underwing pylons, with 100 % success. I have launched a lot of Russian weapons before but this was a milestone for me personally. A bit special for the Czech Air Force was that we used the two-seater Gripen D for the live firing. Since both front and rear seats are similar in Gripen, this gave two pilots instead of one the chance to get the experience of firing live missiles, and that saves money.