Saab 340 variant
Saab 340 Saab 340B AEW-300 (S 100D Argus / ASC 890)
Upgrade of two Swedish S 100Bs for surveillance and multinational operations, in service from 2009 as the S 100D Argus (ASC 890). Sweden announced in 2024 that two aircraft would be transferred to Ukraine.
History
An upgrade with a life of its own
In July 2006 Saab was awarded the contract to upgrade two Swedish Air Force S 100Bs for surveillance missions and multinational deployments. The result, the 340 AEW-300, entered service in 2009 under the Swedish designation S 100D Argus, also known by its system name, ASC 890. The aircraft keeps the 340B airframe and the dorsal Erieye beam but changes enough inside to earn a designation of its own.
From the Baltic to Ukraine
On 29 May 2024 the Swedish Ministry of Defence announced that two ASC 890s would form part of its sixteenth military support package for Ukraine. A year later, in June 2025, one of them reportedly took part in the first shooting down of a Russian Su-35 by an F-16, according to published accounts. Sweden, which had ordered GlobalEye as a replacement in June 2022, thus stopped operating its two ASC 890s.
What remains undocumented
The sources consulted publish no weights or performance figures specific to this upgrade: what is available belongs to the AEW&C family as a whole — a crew of six, 20.57 m length and a 7620 m operating ceiling — with no separate breakdown for the D standard.