In the late 1940s, the Swedish Ministry of Defence released a set of requirements for a new, cutting edge jet interceptor. Among other requirements, the new aircraft was to be capable of reaching speeds of Mach 2 and able to hunt down transsonic bombers, while being easily maintained and capable of taking off from special public roads.

Saab began developing an aircraft around these specifications in the early 1950s and quickly came to the conclusion that a double delta wing design was needed in order to achieve all the requirements. However, this design was yet untried and untested, which led to the creation of the Saab 210 - a testbed aircraft which pioneered the double delta wing design.

Having gained the necessary insight on the performance of the double delta wing, Saab engineers transferred the newly acquired experience into the development of the actual aircraft to address the Ministry’s requirements - the J35 Draken was born.

The J35 Draken undertook its maiden flight in October 1955 and entered service with the Swedish Air Force in March 1960. Over 650 Drakens of various modifications would be built until the end of production, serving with Sweden until the late 1990s before being decommissioned. Apart from Swedish service, the J35 Draken also saw use with Denmark, Finland and Austria. The Austrian Air Force was the last operator to decommission the Draken in 2005, while some units are still in civilian use.