Swedish Army

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The Swedish Army
Armén vapen bra.svg
Coat of arms of The Swedish Army
Active 1521–Present
Country Sweden
Type Army
Part of Swedish Armed Forces
March Svenska arméns paradmarsch
Engagements Swedish War of Liberation
Danish Count's Feud
Great Russian War
Northern Seven Years' War
Livonian War
Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595)
War against Sigismund
Polish War
De la Gardie Campaign
Ingrian War
Kalmar War
Thirty Years' War
Torstenson War
First Bremian War
Second Northern War
Second Bremian War
Scanian War
Great Northern War
Hats' Russian War
Seven Years' War
Gustav III's Russian War
First Barbary War
War of the Fourth Coalition
Finnish War
War of the Sixth Coalition
Campaign against Norway
War in Afghanistan
2011 Libyan civil war
Commanders
Generalmajor Berndt Grundevik

The Swedish Army (Swedish: Armén) is one of the oldest standing armies in the world and a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces; it is in charge of land operations. General Sverker Göranson is the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Army.

Contents

[edit] History

Main article: Military history of Sweden

[edit] Organization

The peace time organization of the Swedish Army is divided into a number of regiments for the different branches. The number of active regiments has been reduced since the end of the Cold War. The regiment forms training organisations that train the various battalions of the army and home guard.

The army is currently undergoing a transformation from conscription based recruitment to a professional defence. This is part of a larger goal to abandon the mass army from the Cold War and develop an army better suited to modern maneuver warfare and at the same time retain a higher readiness. By 2014, the Swedish army will have around 50 000 soldiers in either full time or part time duty, with eight mechanized infantry battalions instantly available at any time and the full force of 71 battalions ready to be deployed within one week.

The regular army will consist of 8 mechanized maneuver battalions, 19 support battalions of different kinds including artillery battalions, anti-aircraft battalions, combat engineer battalions, rangers, logistics battalions, etc. and 4 reserve heavy armoured battalions and 40 territorial defence battalions. The battalion is the core unit but all units will be completely modular and can be arranged in combat teams from company to brigade level with different units depending on the task. There will be a total of 6 permanent staffs under the central command capable of handling large battlegroups, 4 regional staffs and 2 brigade staffs.

[edit] Leadership

Until 1975 the Swedish monarch was the formal head of the army. In 1937, the staff agency "Chief of the Army" (Swedish: chefen för armén, CA) was created to lead the army in peace time. Following a larger reorganization of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1994, CA ceased to exist as an independent agency. Instead, the post Chief of Army Staff (Swedish: chefen för arméledningen) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters (Swedish: Högkvarteret, HKV).

In 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces was again reorganized. Most of the duties of the Army Chief of Staff were transferred to the newly instituted post of "Inspector General of the Army" (Swedish: generalinspektören för armén). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Navy" (Swedish: generalinspektören för marinen) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish: generalinspektören för flygvapnet).

[edit] Chiefs of the Army

[edit] Chiefs of Army Staff

[edit] Inspectors General

[edit] Infantry

Two regiments of infantry

[edit] Cavalry

One regiment and two battalions of cavalry:

  • Livregementets husarer (K 3) stationed in Karlsborg (Air Assault Ranger battalion, long range reconnaissance Ranger battalion and ISTAR)
  • Arméns Jägarbataljon (AJB, former K 4) (part of I 19) in Arvidsjaur (Ranger Battalion/ISTAR)
  • Livgardet (LG) (one battalion) stationed in Stockholm (King's mounted Lifeguards and Military police)
  • Note that the Swedish army's cavalry primarily trains light infantry, ranger units and military police.

[edit] CBRN-defence

One company of Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear defence-trained personnel

[edit] Armoured Corps

(Swedish: Pansartrupperna)

Three regiments of armoured/mechanized troops:

[edit] Artillery

One regiment of artillery:

[edit] Anti-Aircraft Artillery

One regiment of anti-aircraft troops:

[edit] Engineers

One regiment of engineering troops:

[edit] Signal Corps

One regiment of signals:

[edit] Logistic Corps

One regiment of logistical troops:

[edit] Insatsorganisation (Rapid Reaction Force)

The Swedish army will form a Rapid Reaction Organisation (Insatsorganisation in Swedish) in 2014 with the following units.[1]

Army Unit
War Units Training Unit Area Comments
1. Tekniska Bataljon Försvarsmaktens tekniska skola (FMTS) Halmstad 1 Technical battalion
2. Brigadstaben Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde 2 Brigade staff
3. Brigadstaben Norrbottens regemente (I 19) Boden 3 Brigade staff
Livbataljonen Livgardet (LG) Kungsängen Life battalion
13. Säkerhetsbataljon Livgardet (LG) Kungsängen 13 Security battalion
21. Ingenjörsbataljonen Göta ingenjörregemente (Ing 2) Eksjö 21 Engineering battalion
22. Ingenjörsbataljonen Göta ingenjörregemente (Ing 2) Eksjö 22 Engineering battalion
31. Luftburna bataljonen Livgardet (LG) Kungsängen 31 Airborne (7. Modular) battalion (light). Trained with K 3
31. Luftburna bataljonen Livregementets husarer (K 3) Karlsborg 31 Airborne (7. Modular) battalion (light). Trained with LG
32. Underrättelsebataljonen Livregementets husarer (K 3) Karlsborg 32 Reconnaissance (light) (inc. a company of paratroopers)
41. Mekaniserade bataljonen Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde 41 Mechanised (1. modular) battalion (mechanised)
42. Mekaniserade bataljonen Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde 42. Mechanised (2. modular) battalion (mechanised)
61. Luftvärnsbataljonen Luftvärnsregementet (Lv 6) Halmstad 61 Air defence battalion
62. Luftvärnsbataljonen Luftvärnsregementet (Lv 6) Halmstad 62 Air defence battalion
71. Mekaniserade bataljonen Södra skånska regementet (P 7) Revingehed 71 Mechanised (5. modular) battalion (mechanised)
72. Mekaniserade bataljonen Södra skånska regementet (P 7) Revingehed 72 Mechanised (6. modular) battalion (mechanised)
91. Artilleribataljon Artilleriregementet (A 9) Boden 91 Artillery battalion
92. Artilleribataljon Artilleriregementet (A 9) Boden 92 Artillery battalion
191. Mekaniserade bataljonen Norrbottens regemente (I 19) Boden 191 Mechanised (3. modular) battalion (mechanised)
192. Mekaniserade bataljonen Norrbottens regemente (I 19) Boden 192 Mechanised (4. modular) battalion (mechanised)
193. Jägarbataljonen Norrbottens regemente (I 19) Arvidsjaur Army Rangers (light)
1. CBRN-kompaniet Totalförsvarets skyddscentrum Umeå CBRN
1. Transportkompaniet Trängregementet (TrängR) Skövde 1 Logistics company
1. Stridsvagnskompaniet Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde 1 Tank company
2. Stridsvagnskompaniet Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde 2 Tank company
3. Stridsvagnskompaniet Norrbottens regemente (I 19) Boden 3 Tank company
14. Militärpoliskompaniet Livgardet (LG) Kungsängen 14 Military police company
15. Militärpoliskompaniet Livgardet (LG) Kungsängen 15 Military police company

In addition, the force will include a number of personnel from the Territorial Defence Force.

[edit] Territorial Defence Forces

The Territorial Defence Forces (Hemvärnet) consists of 40 battalions with a total of 22,000 men. Many of the soldiers have served abroad in the various missions of the regular army. All soldiers are former conscripts who volunteered for the Territorial Defence.[2]

[edit] Recruitment

Until 2010 the Swedish army recruitment was based on conscription German style. All personnel were called up as conscripts for a year of national service, after which, the unit he/she trained with was put in the war reserve. Upon completion of conscript service with sufficient service marks, conscripts are eligible to apply for commissioned officer training, NCO/Warrant Officer or from 2007 stay in the Army as a professional private, mainly to be employed in the Nordic Battle Group. The army has employed soldiers for UN service on short time contracts since the 1950s for service abroad. From the first of July 2010 the conscription-based system was abandoned and a professional army is being developed.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ forsvarsmakten.se (2011-08-12) Försvarsmaktens delårsrapport 2011 visited 27 augusti 2011
  2. ^ "Rikshemvärnschefens brev till hemvärnspersonalen, dec 2009" (Press release). Hemvärnet. December 2009. http://hemvarnet.se/filer/VBYBLO/Brev_HemV_tryck.pdf. Retrieved 23 March 2010. 

[edit] External links
Armén vapen bra.svg Swedish Army · Marinen vapen bra.svg Swedish Navy · Flygvapnet vapen bra.svg Swedish Air Force · Hemvarnet vapen bra.svg Home Guard
Naval Ensign of Sweden.svg
Armies (land forces) in Europe
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