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Swedish Armed Forces
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The Swedish Armed Forces , is a Government agency responsible for the operation of the armed forces of Sweden.
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Encyclopedia
Swedish Armed Forces
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| Military Force - Fully mobilised
| | Officers | 4,500
| | Regular | 18,000 (100,000 trained in the last 10 years)
| | Militia | 37,000
| | Reserve | 262,000
| | Total | 321,500
| Military Force (within 1 year)
| | Officers | 2,700
| | Regular | 7,000
| | Militia | 37,000 (within hours)
| | Total | 65,500
| Military manpower
| | Military age | 19 years of age
| | Availability | males age 19-49: 1,838,427
females age 19-49: 1,774,659 (2005 est.)
| | Fit for military service | males age 19-49: 1,493,668
females age 19-49: 1,441,257 (2005 est.)
| | Reaching military age annually | males age 18-49: 58,724
females age 19-49: 55,954 (2005 est.)
| Military expenditures
| | Dollar figure | $7bn (44.7bn SEK) 2008
| | Percent of GDP | 1.4% 2008
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The Swedish Armed Forces , is a Government agency responsible for the operation of the armed forces of Sweden. The primary peace time task of the agency is to train and deploy military forces abroad, while maintaining the long-term ability to defend the country in the event of war.
There are three service branches: Army, Air Force and Navy, all reporting to the Supreme Commander (Överbefälhavaren, ÖB) who is, apart from the Sovereign, the highest ranking officer in the country. He, in turn, reports to the Ministry of Defence.
Sweden's military is built on conscription, and until the end of the Cold War nearly all males reaching the age of military service were conscripted. In recent years, the number of conscripted males has been reduced dramatically, while the number of female volunteers has increased slightly. Recruitment has generally shifted towards finding the most motivated recruits, rather than solely on the otherwise most fit for service, although there are exceptions. All soldiers serving abroad are by law required to be volunteers. In 1975 the total number of conscripts was 45,000. By 2003 it was down to 15,000. After the Defence Proposition 2004, the number of troops in training will decrease even further to between 5,000 and 10,000 each year, which emphasizes the need to recruit only the soldiers later prepared to volunteer for international service. As of 2007, the government has discussed dropping the peacetime draft altogether.
Today, the total manpower available to the Swedish Armed Forces when fully mobilized is said to consist of about 321,500. This stands in sharp contrast to the 1980s, before the fall of the Soviet Union, when Sweden could gather up to 1,000,000 men when total mobilization had been declared; but the importance placed on defensive spending during the Cold War is perhaps best reflected by the fact that Sweden in the late 1950s ran the world's fourth-largest air force. This is now far from being the case. Indeed, after rapid draw-downs in the mid-to-late 1990s, there are now more admirals and generals in the Swedish Armed Forces force than there are ships and artillery pieces, respectively, for them to command.
As of 2006, wartime placement has been resumed, after being scrapped in 2003. At present Sweden can mobilise a force consisting of 4,500 officers, 18,000 conscripts, 262,000 in the reserve and 37,000 Homeguards National Guard. Full mobilisation is assumed to take one year (although no mobilisation readiness exists), and the formations assumed are of battalion level. Of these, 2,700 officers and 7,000 conscripts are available within months, with the state militias being available within hours
Recently, one of the Swedish Armed Forces' most important tasks was to serve as the lead nation of an EU Battle Group to which Norway, Finland, Estonia and Ireland were also contributing. The Nordic Battle Group (NBG) was on a 10-day deployment readiness during the first half of 2008. The Swedish Armed Forces currently have a contingent serving in Afghanistan.
Doctrine
Usually, the adversary in tactical military exercises and scenarios is thought to use equipment from the former Warsaw Pact. A common name for the OPFOR has been "Stormakt Röd" (Crimson Super power). Although a specific country is rarely mentioned for political reasons, there is a saying in the armed forces, "Fienden kommer alltid österifrån" - "The enemy always comes from the east". Swedish equipment, training, and procedures are NATO interoperable, and most scenarios include some form of cooperation with one or more of the NATO members. Recent political decisions have strongly emphasized the will to participate in international operations, to the point where this has become the main short-term goal of training and equipment acquisition. Sweden aims to have the option of remaining neutral in case of proximate war, and is therefore not a formal member of NATO.
Military units
The table describes briefly what Sweden currently has deployed abroad and may mobilize within one year. Ready-within-one-year means that there is equipment but no personnel. There is no information about the availability of officers capable of commanding troops; thus the time for mobilization could be substantially longer than one year when taking training of platoon, company and battalion commanders and corresponding staff officers into account. The later seems more likely when considering the statement from the supreme commander: “Swedish officers are not fit for command”. Whether the statement includes physically fit and/or competent is unclear. In either case, the statement means that Swedish officers for those roles have to be recruited and trained from scratch.
Nordic Battle Group
Nordic Battle Group was a temporary formation of the Swedish Armed Forces, which stood at readiness during the first half of 2008. The force was officially ready for action within 10 days for elements that were transportable by air. Heavier parts such Combat Vehicle 90, for use by the 712th mechanized rifle company, may only be transported by ships and arrive after 14 days. Ref: http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:FY2h7wC9amEJ:www.afcea.org.se/NBG_Force_C2_System_050926.ppt+Nordic+Battle+Group&hl=ja&ct=clnk&cd=24&gl=jp. The unit was 2,500 strong and its primary combat elements consisted of one airborne and two light mechanized companies. Planning for a new Nordic Battle Group for 2011 has already begun and will consist of 2,000 troops according to Stefan Jönsson of the Swedish armed forces. The battle group may be tasked and mandated to
- enforce peace by war
- protect EU and US resources and interests
- secure landing areas for further enforcements
International units/deployments
Currently, Sweden has deployed military forces in the sea outside Lebanon, in Bosnia, Afghanistan and Kosovo; further troops have been promised for a French-led EU mission in Chad. Military observers from Sweden have been sent to a large number of countries, including Georgia, North Korea, Lebanon, Israel and Sri Lanka.
Training
Officers are trained in the different combat schools and also at the Military Academy Karlberg which has establishments at Karlberg Palace in Stockholm, and in Halmstad. Conscripts are trained at the different units of the three branches.
Personnel
Criticism and research
In an article based on a doctoral dissertation, Karl Ydén described the Swedish defense force as an enormous career system for desk officers without the ability to carry out military operations. Only a fraction out of 10,000 officers works in military related training of soldiers and an even smaller portion as troop commanders. The Defense force is preoccupied with providing its officers with high titles, building a nice façade and in changing logotypes. Promotion to higher ranks is not driven by knowledge and achievements, but by frequent changes of positions. As a consequence, the officers’ corps has grown very weak in their abilities to carry out their profession and lacks adequate education for their duties. Despite of having 10,000 officers, the army merely consists of one battalion. To provide its officers with a career path with higher ranks, despite of the absence of military units to command, ranks have been exceptionally inflated. Reference: Ph.D. thesis in "War and the career system", Dagens Nyheter by professor Mats Alvesson, researcher of military organization at Lunds University, and Karl Ydén at the University of Göteborg.
Ranks
For details regarding ranks: Military ranks of the Swedish armed forces.
Flag officers
Flag officers, such as Brigade generals and above, are remains from the period when Sweden possessed a territorial defense force with approximately one thousand battalions. Sweden has, however, disarmed with less than one battalion left and less than battalions that would require up to a year to mobilize. There is therefore no longer a requirement to keep flag officers to run what remains. Those are, however, kept for the time being.
Attempts at harmonization with NATO
With the new system, ranks have been inflated even further by elevating soldiers and deputy team leaders from Furir to Sergeant and team leaders from Sergeant to First Sergeant, etc. Note, a typical Swedish fire-team consists of 6 men. To make a Swedish sergeant look as close as possible to a British and US sergeant, three bars were replaced with three chevrons. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether the armed forces has achieved harmonization by providing soldiers and some deputy team leaders with sergeant's titles and three chevrons as well making First Sergeant a team leader and an entry level rank. Also, in effect Sweden has introduced 7 to 8 different (private) ranks below the most junior leadership rank.
HKV-PERS of the Swedish defense forces have used Briton and the US as a base in their attempts to harmonize Swedish ranks with NATO. Ranks vs position(seniority) are therefore BA-, USMC- and USA-based. See Military ranks of the Swedish armed forces for a detailed explanation.
The military introduced the rank of Brigadier General in 2001. The rank and the responsibilities associated with it existed before 2001, but were delegated to "Colonel First Class", or Överste av första graden, i. e. not a General. The same goes for Flottiljamiral which used to be Kommendör av första graden, or "Captain First Class". The background for this anomaly was a political will to limit the number of Generals in the armed forces. The last Swedish Field Marshal to be appointed was Johan August Sandels in 1824. The title was retained until 1972 as a wartime award. (It was never used as such practically due to Sweden not being at war since 1814.)
New OR ranks
Ranks below were ratified by the supreme commander October 24, 2008 to be effective January 1, 2009. For details see Military ranks of the Swedish armed forces.
Organization
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Branches
Schools
Some of the schools listed below answer to other units, listed under the various branches of the Armed Forces.
Centres
- Armed Forces Medical Centre (FömedC) located in Gothenburg
- Aeromedical Centre (FMC) located in Stockholm
- Armed Forces Logistics (FMLOG) located in Stockholm, Boden, Karlskrona and Arboga
- Armed Forces Intelligence and Security Centre (FMUndSäkC) located in Uppsala
- Armed Forces Musical Centre (FöMusC) located in Stockholm/Kungsängen
- Joint Forces Command (OPIL) with Army, Air and Naval Tactical Commands (ATK, FTK and MTK) located in Stockholm and Uppsala
- Recruitment Centre (RekryC) located in Stockholm
- National CBRN Defense Centre (SkyddC) located in Umeå
- Swedish EOD and Demining Centre (SWEDEC) located in Eksjö
- Swedish Armed Forces International Centre (Swedint) located in Stockholm/Kungsängen
Government agencies reporting to the Ministry of Defence
Voluntary Defence Organizations
See also
External links
- - Official site
- - Official site
- - Official site
- - Official site
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