Unmanned Aerial Vehicles
Saab To Fly Fighter-sized Uncrewed Aircraft Next Year
Experimental platform precedes future fighter program decision due by 2030
Swedish aerospace and defense group Saab is preparing to make the first flight of an uncrewed fighter-sized demonstration aircraft in 2027.

Sweden's Saab is preparing to make the first flight of an uncrewed fighter-sized demonstration aircraft in 2027. The project is gathering pace as the NATO member state solidifies a strategy for its future combat aircraft program by 2030 in a process that could see it partner with other nations or decide to go it alone.

“The overall purpose is to develop our future fighter system, but on its way, also develop an unmanned platform [as a] force multiplier,” explained Per Nilsson, Saab’s senior strategic advisor of advanced programs, in a press briefing at the recent Singapore Airshow. Following an “intense research and development phase” encompassing some 150 projects, the upcoming demonstrator will possess “fighter-like characteristics,” he revealed. Saab has yet to confirm  the engine supplier for the aircraft.  

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