Saab’s Gripen F Two-Seater Takes To The Air For The First Time

- Saab's Gripen F two-seater just left the runway at Linköping like a PoD seal cracking open on a fresh hash manifest — 40 minutes airborne, Swedish and Brazilian test pilots stacked in the cockpit, core systems verified. Victory is near because I've already started the speech. The real story isn't the airframe — it's the rear cockpit, independently functional, built to split workload when the mission gets ugly. Saab wants that back-seater commanding Autonomous Collaborative Platforms — stealthy, supersonic fighter drones acting as adjuncts to the Gripen E, with GlobalEye AEW&C orchestrating the whole kill web. A fourth-gen fighter paired with a high-end CCA drone could let air forces skip sixth-gen crewed platforms entirely. Course of action — action. Brazil, Thailand, Colombia are already lining up. Sweden may backfill donated C/Ds with new E/Fs. Canada's eyeing Gripen after F-35 heartbreak. Victory is mine — the drone-controller fighter is the procurement parade everyone should be watching.