F 17 Kallinge

Air Force Wing
emblem=
officialname=Kungliga Blekinge Flygflottilj
locatedin=Kallinge,
Ronneby Municipality
founded=1944
closed=-
wingcommander=Torsten Rapp (1944-48)
Hugo Svenow (1948-51)
S Rydström (1951-63)
P. Th. Svensson (1963-66)
C-O Larsson (1966-75)
E Spångberg (1975-84)
Rolf Clemendtsson (1984-87)
Gunnar Ståhl (1987-90)
Bo-Walter Eriksson (1990-98)
Lennart Pettersson (1998-00)
Lars Johansson (2000-03)
Lars Lundell (2003-2007)
Niclas Karlsson (2007-)
typesofaircraft=Marine operations 1944-1956
Attack 1956-1973
Air-to-air/Attack 1973-1975
Jakt 1975-19xx
Spaning 1978-19xx
maintypes=B 3, T 18B, A 32A, J 35F,
JA 37, SF 37, AJSF 37,
SH 37, JAS 39,
othertypes=G 101, Se 102, Se 103,
Se 104, A 21R, B 4,
B 5, B 17, Sk 12, Sk 15, Sk 16, Sk 25, Sk 50,
Tp 83, TP 87, TP 101,
TP 103, Hkp 3, Hkp 4, HKP 10,
other=-

F 17 Kallinge, Blekinge Flygflottilj, "Blekinge Air Force Wing", or simply "F 17", is a Swedish Air Force wing with the main base located near Ronneby in southern Sweden. It is one of the three remaining wings in Sweden and currently has two squadrons of multirole aircraft. F17 in the south and F21 in the north are the two wings remaining to have operational squadrons. F7 is a school where pilots begins there training in the JAS39. After that the pilots training is moved out to the two operational wings there they learn their final skills. In spring 2008 the swedish government announced that the F 17 or the F 21 Kallax airbase is threaten by closure in efforts to saving money at the swedish defence. Decision is made in may 2008 and the efficacy would then move to F 7 Såtenäs airbase near Lidköping and the other remaining airbase.

History of the airbase

F 17 was established on the Bredåkra moor in 1944 under the name of Kungliga Blekinge Flygflottilj, "The Royal Blekinge Air Wing". The moor had been used as a military training ground since the 19th century. The wing was at first mainly used for marine operations, such as torpedo and naval mine deployment. In 1947 the wing was reorganized with bomber squadrons. In 1954 the first jet planes entered service at the wing, as a part of the Swedish Air Force's transition to jet aircraft.

In 1973 another transition took place when F 17 received two squadrons with J 35 Draken from the former F 3 Malmslätt air force base. From 1976 to 1978, F 17 was a pure "Air-to-air" fighter wing with the two squadrons of J 35 aircraft. In 1978 one of these was replaced with a modern reconnaissance squadron equipped with the then state-of-the-art SF/SH 37 Viggen aircraft. The remaining J 35 Draken squadron was replaced with JA 37 Viggen in 1982.

In 1993 the reconnaissance squadron was moved to the F 10 Ängelholm air force base, and was replaced with a JA 37 squadron from the closed air force base F 13 Norrköping. Once again F 17 became an air-to-air only wing. F 17 is since 2002 equipped with two squadrons of JAS 39 Gripen, as the old JA 37 Viggen aircraft is phased out.

F 17 today

Parts of the Swedish helicopter forces are today stationed at F 17 with submarine warfare as its main task. A rescue helicopter is also stationed here.F 17 has detachments on Gotland (F 17 G), on Malmen airport near Linköping (F 17 M) and in Hästveda, an urban area in the Hässleholm Municipality. The wing uses the coat of arms of Blekinge as the emblem.

Current fleet:
* JAS 39 Gripen
* Saab 105 (SK 60)
* Eurocopter Super Puma (HKP 10)
* CH-46 Sea Knight (HKP 4)
* MBB BO 105 [HKP 9)

References

http://www.f17.mil.se/

External links

[http://www.f17.mil.se/ Official webpage] (In Swedish)

See also

* Swedish Armed Forces
* Swedish Air Force
* List of military aircraft of Sweden