Saab 340 / S 100D Argus
ICAO SF34A Swedish regional turboprop carrying one of the first electronically scanned AEW radars. Live Saab 340 positions.
Flying right now
Live · 30s
No Saab 340 / S 100D Argus is transmitting ADS-B at the moment.
Military aircraft are not obliged to broadcast, so this happens regularly. The count refreshes every thirty seconds.
Airframe
- Manufacturer
- Saab
- Role
- Airborne early warning and transport
- Class
- L2T — Landplane, 2 turboprop engines
- Crew
- 2 to 6
- First flight
- 25 January 1983
- In service
- 1985
Operators airborne
Nothing of this type is up right now.
About the Saab 340 / S 100D Argus
Sweden did airborne early warning on a budget and did it early. The S 100D Argus is a Saab 340 with an Erieye radar in a long dorsal spine — an electronically scanned array, at a time when everyone else was still turning a disc on a pylon.
It is not an AWACS in the E-3 sense; there are fewer operators and less battle management. But it sees a very long way for an aircraft this small, and the concept was influential enough that Brazil, Greece, Mexico, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates bought Erieye on various airframes.
Plain Saab 340 transports also share this designator, so the page mixes AEW aircraft with ordinary government and commuter machines.
Callsign prefixes
- SVF
- Swedish Air Force
- ARGUS
- Swedish airborne early warning flights
How to recognise it
- —A twin turboprop regional airliner with a long, flat radar spine above the fuselage on AEW versions.
- —Four-blade propellers and a conventional low tailplane.
- —The spine runs most of the fuselage length and is unmistakable in profile.
Common questions
+ What is Erieye?
Saab's active electronically scanned airborne radar, mounted in a dorsal spine rather than a rotating disc. It has been fitted to the Saab 340, Saab 2000, Embraer 145 and Global 6000.
+ How does the Argus compare with an E-3?
It is far smaller and cheaper, with fewer operator stations and less endurance, but its radar is modern and electronically scanned. Sweden uses it to extend radar coverage rather than to run a full air battle from the air.
+ Are all Saab 340s on this page AEW aircraft?
No. The designator covers ordinary Saab 340 transports too, including government and commuter examples, so most airframes here are not radar aircraft.