Sweden's Gripen In Las Vegas, a photo from Nevada, West

Photographer's Note

One of the Sweden’s Gripen warplanes participating in Red Flag Exercise conducted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada, January 21 to February 1, 2013.

The Saab JAS 39 Gripen (English: Griffin) is a lightweight single-engine multirole fighter manufactured by the Swedish aerospace company Saab. It was designed to replace the Saab 35 Draken and 37 Viggen in the Swedish Air Force (Flygvapnet). The Gripen has a delta wing and canard configuration with relaxed stability design and fly-by-wire technology. It is powered by the Volvo-Flygmotor RM12 engine, a derivative of the General Electric F404, and has a top speed of Mach 2.

Red Flag is an advanced aerial combat training exercise hosted at Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada. The Red Flag exercises, conducted in four to six cycles a year by the 414th Combat Training Squadron of the 57th Wing, are very realistic aerial war games. The purpose is to train pilots from the U.S., NATO and other allied countries for real combat situations. This includes the use of "enemy" hardware and live ammunition for bombing exercises within the Nevada Test and Training Range. (From Wikipedia)

kabel, ikeharel, jacquest, Sonata11, marabu61 has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

kabel (991) 2013-01-25 7:34

Hello, beautiful action shot of the Gripen. It is so clear we can see the pilot. You really excel at these kinds of photos.
Have a great day,
Karen

Silvio1953 (98183) 2013-01-25 10:57

Ciao Eleu, great capture of lovelyairplane, fine details, splendid light and beautiful clarity, very well done, my friend, have a good week end, ciao Silvio

holmertz (26958) 2013-01-25 11:08

Hello Eleu,
It's impressive that you could capture this with such sharpness and detail. You were lucky that this exercise didn't turn out like some of the first flights of the Gripen in Sweden. One plane crashed on the airfield right in front of TV-cameras during a test flight. Some time later another plane crashed on an island in the centre of Stockholm close to thousands of spectators during a flight show. It was a miracle that noone was killed.
Best regards,
Gert

jacquest (14152) 2013-01-25 13:07

Hello Eleu,

Excellent capture and presentation of this Gripen with wheels down. Interesting details with shsrp colors.

Best regards

Jacques

Sonata11 (28341) 2013-01-25 21:07

Hi Eleu,
magnificent shot of aircraft. Wonderfully executed and perfectly well done. Colors, sharpness, clarity, POV are an excellent. Love it.
All the best and have a great WE,
Barbara

marabu61 (3924) 2013-01-26 7:40

Hello Eleu
So that is how that bird looks like. Here over in Switzerland we have a big political debate about that plane at the moment as it is supposed to replace our actual plane the FA18 in the coming years. But many in Switzerland believe that in Switzerland we don't need a new plane or even a army at all (even though my son at this moment is doing his obligatory duty for the home country :-)
have good weekend
Daniel