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Swedish Air Force stopped flying fighter aircraft Saab JAS 39 Gripen, participating in military operations of the Western coalition in Libya, writes the Swedish newspaper The Local. The reason for this was the incompatibility of the fuel systems of aircraft with American fuel. The latter, as it turned out, suitable only for the American deck-based fighters. Previously it was assumed that the Gripen will take part in flights over Libya, April 7, 2011. Eight Swedish Air Force fighter aircraft involved in operations in Libya, temporarily assigned to the U.S. base at Sigonella in Sicily. The only fuel on this basis, available for refueling aircraft – an American-made. The U.S. Navy used for refueling aircraft fuel based on kerosene JP-5 (Jet Propellant 5), while the Gripen fighter aircraft designed to fill the civil aviation fuel known as Jet A1. According to the head of the Center of aviation operations Swedish Air Force Lt. Col. Brindso Mats (Mats Brindsjo), JP-5 can be poured into tanks Gripen only after adding some additives in it that the U.S. aviation fuel in its characteristics was similar to Jet A1. Nevertheless, the necessary equipment at the U.S. base in Sicily unavailable. Currently, Swedish Air Force is negotiating with civil aviation fuel suppliers outside the U.S. base. Terms of the operation, maintenance and refueling, according to Brindso, should consider before flight Gripen to the American base, but at the Swedish Air Force did not have free time on it. Sweden decided to take part in the Libyan operation on 1 April. According to a mandate, JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft will be used exclusively to patrol the airspace and will not participate in the bombing of ground targets. Currently, the Swedish Air Force operates an instruction according to which the Gripen to make a few test flown over the territory of Libya, to become familiar with the terrain. Only after this link, which is based in Sicily, will report to NATO commanders on their military readiness. It should be noted that the Swedish Air Force will participate in combat operations for the first time in years 1961-1963, when they carried out missions under the mandate of NATO in the sky, the Belgian Congo.
