The Fighter Jet That Could Back Up: The Saab 37 Viggen

When we think of Cold War fighter jets, we imagine long runways and massive airbases. The Swedish Saab 37 Viggen, however, played by a completely different set of rules.

The Reverse Thrust Miracle

The most astonishing fact about the Viggen wasn’t just its speed (Mach 2.1), but its agility on the ground. It was the first single-engine fighter equipped with a thrust reverser.

Why adds such heavy gear? Sweden’s defense doctrine relied on dispersing aircraft to hidden road bases rather than vulnerable airports. The Viggen needed to land on snow-covered country roads just 500 meters long.

Thanks to the reverser, the Viggen could land, stop on a dime, and literally back up into a forest hideout to rearm, performing a three-point turn under its own power. This unique capability turned the Swedish landscape into an unsinkable aircraft carrier.

A true marvel of Scandinavian engineering.