Blekinge Wing
Template:Air Force Wing F 17 Kallinge, Blekinge Flygflottilj, Blekinge Air Force Wing or simply "F 17" is a Swedish air force base located near Ronneby in southern Sweden. The airbase is one of the three remaining airbases in Sweden and currently has two divisions of multirole aircraft.
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 squadron. The moor had been used as a military training ground since the 19th century. The squadron were first mainly used for marine operations, such as torpedo and naval mine deployment. In 1947 the squadron was reorganized as a bomb squadron. In 1954 the first jetplanes entered service at the squadron, as a part of the Swedish airforces transition to jet aircraft.
The year 1973 an other big transition took place when F 17 recived two attack divisions with J 35 Draken from the former F 3 and F 18 air force bases. From 1976 to 1978 F 17 was a pure "Air-to-air" squadron with two divisions J 35 hunter aicrafts. In 1978 one of these divisions were replaced with a modern reconnaissance division equipped with the then state-of-the-art S 37 Viggen aircraft. The remaining J35 Draken division is replaced with JA 37 Viggen in 1982. In 1993 the reconnaissance division is moved to the F 10 air force base in Ängelholm and becomes replaced with a JA 37 division from the closed air force base F 13. Once again F 17 became an air-to-air only squadron. F 17 is equipped with two divisions of JAS 39 Gripen in 2002, 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 Squadron uses the coat of arms of Blekinge as the squadron emblem.
Current fleet:
JAS 39 Gripen
SK 60
Eurocopter Super Puma (HKP 10)
Boeing Vertol 107 (HKP 4)
References
External links
Offical webpage (In swedish)
