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Swedish Armed Forces

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Swedish Armed Forces
Försvarsmakten
Coat of Arms of the Swedish Armed Forces
Coat of Arms of the Swedish Armed Forces
Service branchesCoat of Arms of the Swedish Army Swedish Army
Coat of Arms of the Swedish Air Force Swedish Air Force
Coat of Arms of the Swedish Navy Swedish Navy
HeadquartersStockholm
Leadership
Supreme CommanderGeneral Sverker Göransson
Minister of DefenceSten Tolgfors
Personnel
Military age19 years of age
ConscriptionYes
Available for
military service		2,052,890 males, age 16-49 (2008 est.),
1,980,550 females, age 16-49 (2008 est.)
Fit for
military service		1,705,746 males, age 16-49 (2008 est.),
1,645,070 females, age 16-49 (2008 est.)
Reaching military
age annually		62,262 males (2008 est.),
59,340 females (2008 est.)
Deployed personnel~700[1]

The Swedish Armed Forces (Swedish: Försvarsmakten), 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 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. The government has revealed plans to abolish conscription altogether within a few years.

Units from the Swedish armed forces are currently deployed in Afghanistan and Kosovo. Moreover, Sweden contributes with military observers in various countries and serve as the lead nation for an EU Battle Group approximately once every three years.

Doctrine

The Armed Forces have four main tasks[2]:
1) To assert the territorial integrity of Sweden.
2) To defend the country if attacked by a foreign nation.
3) To support the civil community in case of disasters (e.g. flooding).
4) To deploy forces to international peace support operations.

Sweden aims to have the option of remaining neutral in case of proximate war[3]. However, Sweden cooperates with a number of foreign countries. As a member of the European Union, Sweden is acting as the lead nation for EU Battlegroups[4] and also has a close cooperation, including joint exercises, with NATO through its membership in Partnership for Peace and Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council[5]. In 2008 a partnership was initiated between the nordic countries to, among other things, increase the capability of joint action[6][7]. As a response to the expanded military cooperation the defence proposition of 2009 stated that Sweden won't remain passive if a nordic country or a member of the European Union is attacked[8].

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[9][10][11].

Personnel

Introduction

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 800,000 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 had been resumed, after being scrapped in 2003. At present Sweden can mobilize a force consisting of 4,500 officers, 18,000 conscripts, 262,000 in the reserve and 37,000 Homeguards Home Guard. Full mobilisation is assumed to take one year (although no mobilisation readiness exists), and the formations assumed are of battalion or battle group level. Of these, 2,700 officers and 7,000[citation needed]. conscripts are available within months, with the Home Guard being available within 12-72 hours.[12]

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.[1]

Distribution of personnel

This is the distribution of personnel vs rank as reported by the Swedish Armed Forces in their annual report 2009-01-01: The mean averge age among employed officers is 42.2 and reseve officers 47.7. Ref: [13]

Officers[13]
Rank Total Comissioned Officers
CO(special agreement)		 Officers
without comission
Generals 38 38 0
Överste 153 132 21
Överstelöjtnant 949 392 557
Major 1,907 448 1,459
Kapten 3,053 542 2,511
Löjtnant 2,950 602 2,348
Fänrik 43 2 41
Förste Sergeant 260 260
Total officers 9,353 2,156 7,197
Reserve Officers[13]
Rank Total activ during 2008 inactiv during 2008
Generals 29 0 29
Överste 177 5 172
Överstelöjtnant 225 87 138
Major 1,108 258 850
Kapten 4,533 604 3,929
Löjtnant 2,702 552 2,150
Fanjunkare 21 21
Fänrik 528 124 404
Total Reserve Officers 9,323 1,630 7,693
Officer candidates[13]
Officer candidates who graduate as Fanrik 2009 309
Officer candidates who graduate as Fanrik 2010 112
Officer candidates who graduate as Fanrik 2011 100
S-Officer candidates who graudate as Forste Sergeant 2010 270
Total officer candidates 791
Employed Soldiers[13]
BFA3 January 2009 10
Squad leaders, seamen and soldiers abroad, Dec 2008 430
Squad leaders, seamen and soldiers in Sweden, Dec 2008 330
Total squad leaders, seamen and soldiers 770
Conscript recruits undertaking training
also including squad and platoon leader candidates[13]
Branch Number of conscripts
Army 6,537
Navy 1,012
Air force 392
Total number of conscripts 7,908

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.

Attempts at harmonization with NATO

Sweden has attempted to correct some of the more egregious errors in the rank system through a series of reforms. 1983 NBO reform: Employed personnel such as NCOs, WOs, and regular officers merged into a single corps called professional officers (YO). To harmonize with NATO, officers will be split into a NCO corps and a officers corps respectively. The so called "specialistofficerare" are a close approximation of the traditional NCO corps, and have the ranks from OR-6 to OR-9.

With the new system, the traditional name Furir has been changed to Sergeant and Sergeant is now Förste Sergeant. However, they remain OR-5 and OR-6 respectively.

A typical Swedish rifle squad consists of between 6 to 8 men (depending on role and type). A rifle squad can be commanded by either an OR-4 Korpral (Corporal) or a OR-6 Förste Sergeant (Sergeant 1 class). Specialized squads is led by an OR-6 Förste Sergeant (Sergeant 1 class). An OR-6 will have graduated from a 18 month training programme after completing either 11 months basic training or a 6 month aspirant/candidate programme. An OR-4 will have been selected for command duties during the 11 months of basic training.

HKV-PERS of the Swedish Armed Forces have adopted a STANAG perspective, and attempted to use a terminology as close to European Union militaries as possble, mainly that of the United Kingdom. Inevitably, errors can be made. As an example, the United Kingdom does not have other ranks at level OR-5, but many other countries do, such as the United States where an OR-5 is a Sergeant. In Canada an OR-5 is a Master Corpral. See Military ranks of the Swedish armed forces for an explanation.

Ranks

For details regarding ranks: Military ranks of the Swedish armed forces. Template:User SwedishMilitaryRanks2009 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.)

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 currently contracted personnel. Mobilizing units outside of the R10-R90 readiness range will entail placing units on a wartime footing, wherein officers would have to leave their current assignments in order to command their units.

Template:User Swedish military units

Nordic Battle Group

Nordic Battle Group is a temporary formation of the Swedish Armed Forces, tasked as one of the EU Battle Groups. The next period in which Sweden will be lead nation for a Battle Group is during the first half of 2011.

International units/deployments

Currently, Sweden has deployed military forces in Afghanistan with the International Security Assistance Force and in Kosovo as a part of the multi-national Kosovo Force as well as a a naval force about to be deployed to the gulf of Aden as a part of recently established EU anti-piracy mission named Operation Atalanta . Military observers from Sweden have been sent to a large number of countries, including Georgia, North Korea, Lebanon, Israel and Sri Lanka and Sweden also participates with staff officers to missions in Sudan and Chad

Organization

The Swedish multirole fighter, the Saab 39 Gripen.
The Infantry fighting vehicle Strf 90 produced and used by Sweden.
NH90 of the Swedish Armed Forces

Branches

Schools

Some of the schools listed below answer to other units, listed under the various branches of the Armed Forces.

Centres

  • Armed Forces Centre for Defence Medicine (FömedC) located in Gothenburg, with a section in Linköping
  • 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
  • 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

Main article: Government agencies in Sweden

Voluntary Defence Organizations

See also

References

  1. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/Forces-abroad/
  2. ^ Försvarets fyra huvuduppgifter (In Swedish)
  3. ^ "Sverige är militärt alliansfritt. Denna säkerhetspolitiska linje, med möjlighet till neutralitet vid konflikter i vårt närområde, har tjänat oss väl." Sveriges säkerhetspolitik (In Swedish)
  4. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/Organisation/Units-on-standby/Nordic-Battlegroup/
  5. ^ Sverige och NATO (In Swedish)
  6. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/About-the-Armed-Forces/Nordic-defence-cooperation/
  7. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/About-the-Armed-Forces/Nordic-defence-cooperation/Background-to-cooperation/
  8. ^ Ett användbart försvar, last paragraph (In Swedish)
  9. ^ Försvarsreformen (In Swedish)
  10. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/About-the-Armed-Forces/Our-task/
  11. ^ http://www.mil.se/en/About-the-Armed-Forces/The-Swedish-military-service-system/
  12. ^ Ivarsson, Ulf (2007). "Pendeln måste slå tillbaka". Hemvärnet (1): 5. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
  13. ^ a b c d e f http://www.mil.se/upload/dokumentfiler/Årsredovisningar/Årsredovisning%202008/Bilaga%203%20Årsredovisning%202008.pdf
  14. ^ http://www2.mil.se/en/About-the-Armed-Forces/Organisation/Address-list/
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