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MILITARY

IN STATS: Sweden exported arms worth more than 18 billion kronor in 2023

Sweden's arms exports rose 18 percent last year as the Russia-Ukraine war drove a search for weaponry, new figures reveal.

Published: 5 March 2024 05:52 CET
a JAS Gripen Jet
Sweden has a growing defence industry with Saab making the Gripen fighter jet, the Global Eye surveillance aircraft and anti-tank weapons. Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/TT

Most of the exports went to European Union countries and 39 countries which Sweden cooperates with, the Swedish Inspectorate for Strategic Products (ISP), a government agency, said in a statement.

Sweden has a growing defence industry with Saab making the Gripen fighter jet, the Global Eye surveillance aircraft and anti-tank weapons.

“The degradation of the security situation and the continuing rearmament in the world means that the Swedish defence industry can expect many orders for a long time,” said ISP director general Carl Johan Wieslander in a statement.

“Swedish military equipment is attracting great interest, particularly in Ukraine,” he added.

Turkey also benefited from Swedish arms, according to ISP, with exports in 2023 worth four million kronor (356,000 euros).

In 2019, Stockholm introduced restrictions on arms sales to Ankara in response to Turkey’s military incursion into Syria.

The embargo was lifted following negotiations between the two countries during Sweden’s Nato accession process.

“The resumption of arms exports to Turkey clearly shows that Sweden places greater importance to Nato membership than to respecting human rights, democracy and international law,” said the peace and disarmament NGO Svenska Freds in a statement.

“The arms industry wants to present itself as a contributor to freedom and democracy, but Swedish arms companies also export (their products) to undemocratic regimes, countries that violate human rights and international law,” the NGO added.

People in these countries “pay a high price” for flourishing arms industry, it said.

The top 10 destinations for Swedish arms exports in 2023:

United States: 3,467 million kronor

Brazil: 2,798 million kronor

Pakistan: 1,573 million kronor

United Kingdom: 1,507 million kronor

Germany: 951 million kronor

Hungary: 946 million kronor

India: 704 million kronor

Norway: 634 million kronor

France: 532 million kronor

Czech Republic: 488 million kronor

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MILITARY

Swedish parliament group urges 52 billion kronor hike in defence spending

A Swedish parliamentary commission on Friday recommended moves to strengthen the country's armed forces that would add 52.8 billion kronor to the national defence budget by 2030.

Published: 26 April 2024 14:37 CEST
Swedish parliament group urges 52 billion kronor hike in defence spending

That would bring spending to 2.6 percent of GDP, thereby exceeding the Nato target of two percent.

The Swedish Defence Commission said the Scandinavian country needed to respond to new conditions, citing heightened tensions in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s recent integration into the Nato military alliance.

The commission recommended additional army brigades and navy personnel, a rise in the number of conscripts trained up every year and the creation of Sweden’s first ever rocket artillery unit.

“Together, the (recommended) additions for military defence amount to 52.8 billion kronor in 2030,” the commission said in a report presented to the government on Friday.

The commission is composed of MPs from all parties in parliament, as well as experts and representatives of various authorities, including the armed forces.

Its report will form the basis for a decision on defence spending in parliament this autumn, which the commission said would be “historic”.

“The deteriorating security situation, combined with Sweden’s obligations as an Ally, requires an increased ambition for the military defence,” the government said on its website on Friday.

Sweden’s defence budget for 2024 is around 119 billion kronor.

With the proposed increase, it would reach 185 billion kronor, defence commission chair Hans Wallmark told a press conference.

More troops

Wallmark said the commission wanted to bring forward the deployment of two new army brigades so the force had a total of four by 2030.

MPs wanted there to be three mechanised brigades and one infantry brigade, he told reporters.

The commission also proposed the creation of Sweden’s first rocket artillery unit, saying it believed the creation of a full battalion was “pressing” but needed to be evaluated further.

It recommended a 50-percent expansion in the number of conscripts trained every year.

“We want to train 12,000 conscripts a year by 2032”, said Wallmark, up from the 8,000 a year currently trained.

More personnel should also be provided for the navy, he said.

Civil Defence Minister Carl-Oskar Bohlin made waves in January when he told a defence conference “there could be war in Sweden”.

Shortly after, armed forces commander Micael Bydén also said Swedes needed to “mentally prepare for war”.

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Sweden drastically slashed its defence spending after the end of the Cold War but reversed course following Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea.

In March 2022, after Russia’s fully fledged invasion of Ukraine, Stockholm announced it would increase spending again, aiming to dedicate two percent of GDP to defence “as soon as possible”.

Late last year, the government said military spending would exceed the two-percent goal in 2024.

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