Saab AJS 40 'Fenix'

[darkjak]

If anyone hasn't realised it yet, my favourite aircraft of all time is the J35 Draken.

 

For some time I've been thinking of what a modern Double Delta winged aircraft would be like.

The thoughts started more seriously while I was dreaming about a game taking place in the future, where the PRC has conquered Russia and is attacking Sweden. Events which undoubtedy would result in an increase in investments in the Swedish armed forces.

 

The thought was from the beginning a stealthy version of the older Draken.

 

I began studying video game development, and soon several friends and I started creating a mod for Half Life 2, first called Lionhearts: The last Stand, then renamed to Somewhere in Sweden. This was circa 2007-early 2008. Unfortunately, the mod got canceled (although if you have Day of Defeat: Source, you can try out a converted version of one of the areas. It's called Swedenmap, and is available at FPSbanana).

The first concept image was this:

 

Then, last year I made a revised version based on the F-22, still double delta though:

 

This week I decided to look a bit closer into the subject, so I created a new concept:

 

Said and done, today I sat down and started to model the plane. The results after the first day are as follows:

 

 

 

 

I can't promise anything regarding progress, but I'm hoping to have it air worthy by summer.

 

The idea is that this aircraft should be Swedens main interceptor and strike aircraft, while the Gripen would be the main fighter and close air support aircraft. The plane will have stealth capabilities, top speed of circa 3000 km/h and a larger payload than any Swedish aircraft. Just like the planned J35 MOD, it's going to have foldable canards and perhaps "fangs".

[Dreamstar]

Looking Forward to this one.... looks the business allright.....

[logan4]

If anyone hasn't realised it yet, my favourite aircraft of all time is the J35 Draken.

 

For some time I've been thinking of what a modern Double Delta winged aircraft would be like.

 

The thought was from the beginning a stealthy version of the older Draken."

 

 

Great plans and will look good Draken has its magic to fall in love with it. Got me on the hook several years back and made couple of own "versions" although I have only this "offspring" in softcopy. Don"t take the specs serious on the pic they were part of my daydreaming so some are unrealistic.

 

If this reply not come out right please note this is my first attempt

[darkjak]

Cool scetch, although not at all what I've been thinking of.

Your aircraft seems very small, and the wings are quite thin. But nontheless, it seems more stealthy than my plane.

 

By the way, I've been writing on a background story:

 

The AJS 40 project began in the 1980’s. With the IDF Thornado entering service in the late 1970’s, as it was proven that it now was possible to create a swingrole fighter, which is what Sweden had aimed for with the Saab 37. In 1981 the decision was taken to develop the JAS 39 Gripen. It was clear that it would take several years before the Swedish airforce would receive a new fighter, so an initiative was taken to modernise the existing fleet of Drakens and Viggens.

 

The most ambitious project was called the J35 mod. The version would externaly change the plane by giving the plane so called dog teeth wings and foldable canards on the air intakes. This would have improved the planes handling and carrying capacity. More pylons and new engines would enable the plane to carry a larger payload over a longer distance, and finally the aircraft would receive new computer systems which would turn the Draken into a modern Swingrole fighter. The project was canceled in favour of a minor modification.

 

Ten years after the decision to develop the JAS39 the Berlin wall falls. Europe is united and free with little worry about Russia. The Swedish army starts to dismantle its army at an increasing pace. The Saab Lansen is removed from service in 1997, just as planned, shortly followed in 1999 by the Draken. In 2005 the Viggen gets taken out of service, more than ten years ahead of schedule. Soon half of the originally ordered 200 Gripens get removed from service, and discussions start about further reducing the fleet to 58 aircraft.

 

In 2008 the Russians doubled their military budget and started to behave increasingly agressive, first by flying stategic bombers over Norwegian, Brittish and Japanese airspace, and culminating in a war against Georgia. Russia also unveiled plans to create an equivelant to the American F-22. It was becoming increasingly apparent that an aircraft with long range, high speed and stealth capabilities would be necessary to handle the Russian threat. As a reaction to this Jan Andersson, chief of the Swedish Airforce secretly created basic specifications for a future version of the Gripen.

 

The Saab engineers quickly realised that the Gripens current shape wouldn’t reach the specifications, however the Gripen’s basic technology, including computers, radar systems and engines were up for the job. The engineers agreed that the cheapest and most viable sollution would be to use Double Delta wings and dual engines, but as there had been no official order to develop the new aircraft, no serious research was conducted. In 2010 several high ranked officers, purpously turning the question into media spectacles. The Swedish peoples, and the medias sudden interrest in the army turned the army into a major question during the election that same year. Following the election, the m/15 project was started, with the goal of by 2015 having increased the ammount of mobilisable soldiers would increase to 100 000 not counting homeguard troops. The project also included vehicles to carry these soldiers and their equipment, and national industries to manufacture equipment for them. The project also included funding for an upgraded Gripen.

 

Even though it from the start was clear that the new aircraft would be very different from the Gripen, the official name remained Gripen G, sometimes nicknamed VedergällningsGripen, Gripen Retalliator by Swedish media. The reason: to dissinform the Russians.

Saab used large parts of the data gained from the J35 mod project a quarter century prior and started to research stealth capabilities.

 

In 2014 Saab built a new J35 with electronics, engine from the Gripen E and a body from carbon fiber. The official reason was that the J35 the Swedish airforce had kept for historic reasons couldn’t be kept airworthy much longer due to rarity of spare parts. In fact the sole purpose of the aircraft was to see how a double delta aircraft with modern technology would be like. The focus of the trials was speed and climb rate. The much lighter, stronger aircraft improved on the original Draken by 300 kilometres an hour, bringing it to 2450 kilometres an hour.

 

 

A year later the AJS 40 was unveiled to the public. The project alarmed the Russians and caught the rest of Europe by surprise.

Stealthy, with a top speed of over 3000 kilometres an hour and a large payload, Sweden seemed to have gained air supperiority over Russia. However the aircraft wasn’t an air supperiority fighter, but rather an aircraft that was supposed to prevent Russian bombing raids over Sweden, as well as carry out raids on Russian territory.

 

 

When the aircraft went into service in 2017, it was the most largest, most sophisticated fighter aircraft in Europe.

Rather than replacing the Gripen, the both aircraft remain in service until this day. While the Gripen remained Swedens main fighter, close air support and reconnaisance aircraft, the Fenix became Sweden’s main interceptor, strike craft and spy plane.

Edited March 14, 2009 by darkjak

[darkjak]

Here's the lowdown of my second days work:

 

 

 

This image shows how close to the Gripen the plane actually is. It also shows how slender this aircraft actually is. The funny thing is that today I've made the plane a fair bit more smooth, so unlike the F-14 the body doesen't curve that much arround the engines.

Edited March 14, 2009 by darkjak

[logan4]

Good story, I actually miss the 35's & 37's even that my country has couple of 39's, those were nice birds is a way.

 

"flm-94" - my drawing - was meant to be small. about 70% out of the 200+ were in the size of 14-17m range and only about 20 was larger than 19m. They were intended to be for a theoretical scenery of a small remote island thousands of miles from anything, so only the closer 300km needed a "guardian force" and mostly for the joy of flight.

 

Your model will be very good I'm sure, smooth or round doesn't count, both has been used for stealth purposes. I look forward to it

[+Julhelm]

Om du verkligen är intresserad av att göra den stealthy ska du designa den så att alla vinklar överrensstämmer med varandra. Studera F-22 och F-35 och se hur all pilform är i exakt samma vinkel.

[Spinners]

Exciting stuff! Good luck with this.

[darkjak]

I'm thinking whether I should make this a tailless design, if you understand what I mean.

 

And yes, I'm having thoughts about making the angles match, but that might appear on the AJS40B

 

Gimme all yo thoughts!

[darkjak]

I'd also like a tutorial on how to actually get the damn thing in the game. There's nothing in the knowlege base!

 

By the way, third day's work:

 

 

As you can see, the tail's come off and fangs have come on.

Edited March 20, 2009 by darkjak

[+Julhelm]

Try a Cutlass-like tailfin arrangement on it where the tailfins are mounted on the wing well outboard of the engines.

[darkjak]

Try a Cutlass-like tailfin arrangement on it where the tailfins are mounted on the wing well outboard of the engines.

 

Like I said before: does anyone know a tutorial on how to make planes?

[+Julhelm]

Try the ones over at 3dtotal.com or at colacola.se.

[darkjak]

I don't need tutorials for creating the plane itself, but how to get the plane into the game. How do I make the landinggear including animations, and how do I make them happen in the game? How do I make the rudders 'n stuff work? That stuff just isn't there.

[malibu43]

I don't need tutorials for creating the plane itself, but how to get the plane into the game. How do I make the landinggear including animations, and how do I make them happen in the game? How do I make the rudders 'n stuff work? That stuff just isn't there.

 

As far as I know, there are no tutorials for that. I would recommend looking through the data.ini's of different aircraft to get a feel for what to put in there. To start just copy the .ini's for another aircraft and then start tweaking them.

[logan4]

There are the tutorials of Mustang's on this site under downloads-> WOx->SF/WO*/FE Utilities/Editors at page 3.

 

http://forum.combatace.com/index.php?autoc...p;showfile=5046

this is about animation of some parts

 

The TW exporter for 3dmax can be downloaded from here:

http://www.thirdwire.com/downloads_tools.htm

 

You will need to create a folder for the plane put the plane's .lod and .out files in it. then the harder part the .ini files, as above was mentioned go through several plane's .ini files to see how they set up theirs.

In the WoI/WoE/WoV/Project-1 Knowledge Base Subforums you can find also advices and ways to do them.