Drones, sats and rockets: As Sweden looks to boost spending,
it’s taking lessons from Ukraine
“I
think what became crystal clear on the 24th of February this year was that
Russia is willing to take bigger political and military risks ... and the
threshold for the use of military force is very low," Swedish defense
minister Pål Jonson told Breaking Defense.
Sweden’s Pål Jonson, Minister for Defence (left), Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister (center) and Johan Forssell (right), Minister for International Development Cooperation and Foreign Trade during a press conference on November 16. (Swedish Defence Ministry)
HALIFAX — Drones, space-based surveillance capabilities and
munitions could get increased attention from Sweden as the Nordic nation attempts to boost
spending for modernization in the coming years, according to its new defense
minister.
Since coming into power this fall, Sweden’s new government has
laid out three defense priorities. The first is joining NATO, and the second is
increasing military support for Ukraine “including the transfer of more advanced
military weapons systems,” Pål Jonson, who became Sweden’s top defense official
in October, told Breaking Defense.
The third priority involves increasing Sweden’s defense budget
over time. In November, Sweden’s armed forces put forward a proposal to
increase military spending to 2 percent of its gross domestic product — the
longheld goal for NATO members — by 2026 instead of its previous declaration to
do so by 2028.
“I think what became crystal clear on the 24th of February this
year was that Russia is willing to take bigger political and military risks …
and the threshold for the use of military force is very low,” Jonson said in an
interview on the sidelines of Halifax International security Forum. “And that’s
a reality that we have to take into consideration.”
Sweden must speed up its military modernization plans in order
to ensure it is able to fend off Russian aggression, and Swedish defense
officials are closely watching the ongoing conflict in Ukraine to help inform
what technologies the nation will need to contend against Moscow, Jonson said.
“One thing that’s clear, of course, is that drones play a
critical role in contemporary warfare, and we’ve seen that of course, in
Armenia [and] Azerbaijan. We’ve seen in in Syria. We’ve seen it in Yemen. We’ve
seen it in Afghanistan. But it’s even more clear here [in Ukraine],” Jonson
said.
The war also has made clear how important access to information
is, and one area that Sweden is particularly interested in is the intelligence
that can be gleaned from space-based capabilities such as reconnaissance
satellites, he said. Finally, Sweden may have to increase its investments in
long- and medium-range precision weapons, like cruise missiles and rockets.
Jonson’s
comments on modernization echo those made by Gen. Micael Byden, Supreme
Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces, who laid out the military’s
modernization and procurement strategy in November.
Like Jonson, Byden underscored the need to supply its ground
force with more long-range fires and drones and said that “the national ability
to launch satellites will be developed” in coming years. Byden also called for
increased investment in maritime capability, specifically in surface ships and
their associated combat systems.
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Sweden’s new center-right government hopes to increase spending for
defense and national security by 13 billion SEK, or about $1.2 billion, in
2023. However, Jonson noted that the new government’s defense budget proposal
could face a multitude of hurdles, including political opposition as well as
economic factors such as inflation.
“[The
Swedish military’s] buying power of course is affected by the dollar right now,
which is very strong compared to the Swedish krona. Prices for diesel and
gasoline are going up, and also inflation has an impact. So this is going to be
a challenge,” he said. “That was also another incentive for us to make sure
that we provide the right amount of money in order to assure that we have solid
economic financing for matching our increased military investments.”
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