"It was a bird collision and the pilot had to eject," Johan Lundgren, spokesman at the Swedish Armed Forces told AFP.

The pilot was on a training mission in a Jas Gripen aircraft manufactured by Swedish aerospace company Saab.

The accident happened eight kilometres (five miles) north of a military air base near the southern Swedish city of Ronneby.

The pilot was taken to a hospital for a check-up.

Authorities said the accident happened in a remote area and no casualties were reported.

Sweden reports about 400 such incidents a year, Charlotte Billgren at the Swedish Transport Agency told the TT news agency.