Which air forces or units have flown both Gripen and F-35 in the same exercises and published after-action summaries?
Executive summary
NATO-member Denmark and Sweden conducted the first bilateral dissimilar aerial-combat drills between Danish F‑35As and Swedish JAS‑39 Gripen aircraft on 11 and 13 March 2024; NATO’s Allied Air Command published an account of the event and Danish and Swedish services commented publicly [1]. Larger NATO exercises since 2024 — notably Ramstein Flag 2025 — also placed Gripens and F‑35s in the same battlespace and were reported by national statements and defence press, though publicly available after‑action “unit-level” summaries are sparse in the cited reporting [2] [3].
1. Denmark–Sweden: the clearest documented example
The most direct, sourced instance of Gripen and F‑35 aircraft flying together in paired exercises is the March 2024 Danish–Swedish training: Allied Air Command reported Danish F‑35s and Swedish JAS‑39 Gripens flew aerial combat drills on 11 and 13 March 2024, and both national services issued public statements about the activity [1]. Media accounts — including Aeroflap and Eurasian Times — described one‑on‑one dissimilar air combat sorties and cited Danish and Swedish officers saying the interaction improved combined operational capabilities [4] [5]. Those Allied Air Command and national statements serve as the primary public after‑action record referenced in your source set [1] [4].
2. Ramstein Flag 2025 and other large NATO events: shared airspace, mixed public messaging
Ramstein Flag 2025 involved large formations of aircraft from multiple countries and explicitly included Gripen deployments; reporting notes the exercise operated “alongside fifth‑generation F‑35 stealth jets,” with Hungary and Sweden among contributors [2] [3]. Defence‑industry and Flygtorget coverage stress that Gripen units trained in the same scenarios and airspace as F‑35s, but the coverage in the provided sources mainly gives high‑level participation and purpose rather than detailed, unit‑level after‑action summaries or debrief documents [2] [6] [3]. Available sources do not mention published detailed tactical AARs (after‑action reports) from those exercises.
3. What counts as a “published after‑action summary”?
The Allied Air Command brief on the Danish–Swedish drills functions like an official release summarising the event; national air commands also issued quotes and synopses [1] [4]. However, the provided sources do not include formal, technical AARs with metrics (kill ratios, sensor logs, lessons learned) that some militaries keep internally. In other words, public summaries exist at the press‑release level for Denmark/Sweden and for Ramstein Flag 2025, but the detailed unit‑level debrief documents are not present in the current reporting [1] [2].
4. Other countries and dual‑type operations — claims versus documented fact
Several outlets and commentaries speculate about nations operating both types over time (for example, the Czech Republic plans to acquire F‑35s while extending Gripen leases, implying future bilateral expertise), but those are forward‑looking policy reports rather than exercise AARs [7]. News and opinion pieces also discuss historical Gripen participation in multinational exercises (e.g., Red Flag 2006) and Gripen pairings with other types — yet the only directly cited, contemporaneous F‑35/Gripen drill with an official public summarising source in this corpus remains the Danish–Swedish March 2024 activity [8] [1].
5. Contrasting narratives and potential agendas in the reporting
Industry and advocacy outlets frame these encounters differently: Swedish and pro‑Gripen outlets emphasise Gripen’s interoperability and cost effectiveness [9] [2], while U.S.‑oriented or F‑35‑supporting commentary stresses the F‑35’s data‑fusion advantages [5]. Some pieces (Eurasian Times, Eurasia‑style outlets) make competitive “who would win?” claims that simplify complex training objectives; those articles amplify public interest but are not substitutes for formal AARs [5] [10]. Readers should note potential vendor and national promotion motives when outlets emphasise superiority or scoring in simulated engagements.
6. Bottom line and gaps in public record
Based on the supplied sources, Denmark and Sweden are the clearest case of Gripen and F‑35 aircraft flying together in exercised opposition with public summaries issued by NATO/Allied Air Command and national services [1] [4]. Ramstein Flag 2025 placed Gripens and F‑35s in the same large exercise and was publicly reported, but detailed unit after‑action reports are not present in the cited material [2] [3]. Available sources do not mention any other country publishing detailed, unit‑level AARs specifically describing Gripen vs F‑35 engagements (not found in current reporting).