Swedish Armed Forces - Doctrine

Doctrine

The Armed Forces have four main tasks:

  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. 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 and also has a close cooperation, including joint exercises, with NATO through its membership in Partnership for Peace and Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 2008 a partnership was initiated between the Nordic countries to, among other things, increase the capability of joint action, and this led to the creation of NORDEFCO. As a response to the expanded military cooperation the defence proposition of 2009 stated that Sweden will not remain passive if a Nordic country or a member of the European Union were attacked.

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. However, after the 2008 South Ossetia war the territorial defense was once again emphasized. Until then most units could not be mobilized within one year, should the need arise. In 2009 the minister of defense stated that in the future all of the armed forces must be fully mobilized within one week.

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