Sweden

The nearby tension between Russia and the Ukraine over Crimea in 2014, as well as the existence of threats related to other diverse factors, such as those of climate change and terrorism, have affected the Security strategy of Sweden. After long discussions in the Swedish parliament, a raise of the Defence budget for the period 2016-2020 by 10.2 billion kronor (US $1.2 billion), was decided in April 2015. For the first time in more than two decades, Sweden’s governance decided upon consecutive increases of the defence budget (by 2.2% per year). According to the Swedish Defence Policy for 2016-2020 (see chart below), the total defence spending for the relevant 5-year period, will be about SEK 233 billion (some US $ 26 billion).

The Swedish Armed forces include the Army, Navy, Airforce and the Home Guard. Since 2010, military service has turned to be gender neutral, while at the same time the conscription system was suspended, in favour of a volunteer recruiting system. However, given that in comparison to the plans of the Armed Forces, volunteers actually enlisting are much less than the associated requirements, therefore major staff shortages are predicted in the near future. Under this risk, it seems essential for the Swedish authorities to reactivate the conscription system, and promote compulsory basic training, by 2018. Hence, forming a reserve force of at least 23,000 military trained individuals was suggested by the commission -charged with performing an inquiry into manning requirements for the Armed Forces, in 2015- in its official report.

In addition, given the increase of crime and terrorism incidents in recent years, the Government has also proposed increased resources for the Swedish Police Authority, as well as the Swedish Security Service.

In recent years, Swedish Defence suffered from serious cut-offs, as a result of the global economic crisis, in conjunction with the erroneous belief that EU members should not worry about terrorism and similar threats.

In 2014, 41% of the country’s military spending was allocated to Procurement & Construction, 34% to Personnel, 24% to Operation and Maintenance, and only 1% to R&D.

The nearby tension between Russia and the Ukraine over Crimea in 2014, as well as the existence of threats related to other diverse factors, such as those of climate change and terrorism, have affected the Security strategy of Sweden. After long discussions in the Swedish parliament, a raise of the Defence budget for the period 2016-2020 by 10.2 billion kronor (US $1.2 billion), was decided in April 2015. For the first time in more than two decades, Sweden’s governance decided upon consecutive increases of the defence budget (by 2.2% per year). According to the Swedish Defence Policy for 2016-2020 (see chart below), the total defence spending for the relevant 5-year period, will be about SEK 233 billion (some US $ 26 billion).

Apart from this amount, it should be stressed that on 16 August 2017, the government has agreed with the Moderates and the Center Party to further increase the budget of the Swedish Armed Forces and other parts of the Swedish Total Defence with an additional 2.7 kronor (US 301 $ million) annually for the years 2018-2020.The agreement will increase the defence budget by a total of SEK 8.1 billion (US 903 $ million) over the next three years. Of these, approximately SEK 1.3 billion (US 145 $ million) is allocated to civilian defence and about 6.8 billion to the military defence.

More on this direction, on September 20 2017, the government proposes in its Budget Bill for 2018, the allocating of an additional SEK 2.7 billion (US 301 $ million) to Sweden’s total defence, of which SEK 2.3 billion (US 257 $ million) will be allocated to military defence and SEK 0.4 billion (US 44.6 $ million) to civil defence.

It is worth mentioning that Sweden is not a member of a military alliance. However, today’s reality, characterised by an increased sense of unpredictability in terms of security, Sweden has actively pursued international cooperation, in order to benefit from cost sharing and interoperability initiatives. Therefore, Sweden aims to deepen its participation in the Nordic Defence and Security Cooperation (NORDEFCO) , the European Defence Agency (EDA), the UN, the EU, as well as work more closely with NATO .

Under this context, Sweden is taking part in various European/EDA projects and initiatives, such as those listed below (list is not exhaustive):

  • Air-to-air Refuelling (since 2012)
  • Maritime Surveillance - MARSUR (since 2006)
  • Software Defined Radio - SDR (since 2008)
  • Project Team Personnel Recovery - PT PR (since 2007)
  • Unmanned Maritime Systems (UMS) research (since 2009)
  • Counter-IED (Improvised Explosive Devices) (since 2009)
  • Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems – RPAS (i.e. one of four capability development priorities for the EC (European Council), as of December 2013) – Sweden leads one of the related projects, namely “MIDCAS” (MIDair Collision Avoidance System).

Moreover, Swedish Armed forces, support international missions in Afghanistan, Africa, Mali, Middle East etc.

Source: http://www.forsvarsmakten.se/

Nevertheless, in the aforementioned 2016-2020 Defence Plan, some SEK 1.3 billion, initially oriented towards the funding of international missions, will be reallocated for the funding of Armed Forces’ training and readiness in accordance with their own suggestions.

As a consequence of the security deterioration at the European, as well as the international levels, the concept of Total Defence, consisting of Military and Civil defence, has turned to be an urgent demand for Sweden. This will incorporate common planning guidelines, between government and the relevant authorities. Moreover, through this, emphasis will be placed on national defence and planning for wartime scenarios.

In addition, of the highest priorities for the country, is the increase of operational warfighting capability, for preserving Swedish independence and autonomy. Towards this direction, a number of actions have been proposed by the Parliamentary Defence Commission (that reviewed the Armed Forces situation in 2013 and 2014), which amongst others include:

  • Introduction of a new basic training system
  • Upgrade of air defence capabilities
  • Land forces reorganization into two mechanized brigades
  • Increased presence in the Baltic sea and Gotland island (of vital strategic importance for Sweden)
  • Home guards units increase
  • Investments is soldiers’ recruiting
  • Civil defence invigoration
  • Cyber security enhancement
  • Long range precision strike capability

For achieving the aforementioned, an increase of defence budget is fundamental, translated into approximately an extra SEK 17 billion (about US $1.9 billion), in the budget of Armed Forces for the period 2016-2020, compared to the previous period.

Finally, Sweden has decided upon the upgrade/procurement of the below defence equipment over the period 2016-2020:

  • Upgrade of main battle tanks and infantry combat vehicles
  • New self-propelled artillery (Archer)
  • Increase of bridge layers
  • New antitank weapons
  • Providing the Home Guard with 4 mortar platoons
  • Upgrade of the two Gavle-class corvettes
  • Air Defence: JAS39 investments (with Meteor missiles) & new short and medium range surface air missiles
  • Anti-submarine warfare capability strengthening

According to SIPRI data, Sweden reduced its arms imports significantly in the last three years (2013-2015). The main imports of defence equipment over the period 2010-2015, included Aircraft, Armoured vehicles and Sensors (See chart below). In 2015, total arms imports by the country amounted to US $44 million.

The main exporters of military equipment to Sweden over the same period, were the US, followed by France, Germany and Finland.