The Swedish Navy this month is celebrating the 500th anniversary of its founding on 7 June 1522 and speaking to media in Stockholm on the eve of the celebrations, Sweden’s Chief of Navy Konteramiral (RADM) Ewa Skoog Haslum, described the challenges she faces as she prepares her service for the future.
Sweden is rapidly rearming after decades of defence cuts and is aiming to grow its total defence budget to two per cent of GDP – or about EUR 14 billion – in response to the worsening strategic situation it faces in Northern Europe and, in particular, in the Baltic region. This, together with the recent challenges of COVID-19, the war in Ukraine and Sweden’s recent application to join NATO, has presented challenges unforeseen when RADM Haslum took on the role in January 2020.
“2015 was a historical turning point, when defence spending started to increase and as of 2020, the Swedish parliament approved a 40 per cent increase for the period 2020-2025, and now we have an even further increase up to two percent of GDP,” RADM Haslum said.
“We have one of Europe’s longest coastlines, 2,700 kilometres and, including the archipelagos, it has the most islands – about 200,000. Finland has the second-largest coastline, with Norway the third.
“We are very dependent on our sea lanes of communication and the Baltic region has gained strategic importance. We are a country very much dependent on shipping – 86 per cent of trade comes by sea and much of it comes into Gothenburg on the west coast, the second-largest city in Sweden.”
The Baltic Sea also presents challenges for undersea warfare, with a median depth of 60 metres and the maximum of 200 metres is only found in two locations. It also experiences a change in salinity of temperature, ranging from relatively high levels in the south, to low levels in the north.
The Swedish Navy has recently received two of its Gotland-class submarines upgraded under a comprehensive Mid-Life Upgrade (MLU) program and work on the third is underway at Saab Kockum’s facility in Karlskrona in southern Sweden. In addition, Saab Kockums is currently building two state-of-the-art Blekinge (A26) submarines and, together with the Navy and Sweden’s Försvarets materielverk (FMV, its equivalent to Australia’s CASG) is already working on pre-definition studies for a new, larger, submarine designated UB30.
Four new surface combatants are to be acquired to supplement five existing Visby-class corvettes, with the first two new ships to be delivered by 2030. The Visby-class ships will also undergo their own MLU which, among other things, will add new anti-submarine warfare (ASW) sensors and weapons and a medium-range surface to air missile (SAM) system – the latter representing the first missile air defence capability the Navy has had since the 1970’s.
In addition, the Swedish Navy’s five minesweeping vessels will be upgraded and replaced by capabilities which rely more on unmanned vessels and artificial intelligence, as will its fleet of CB 90 fast attack boats. The intelligence-gathering vessel, HSwMS Orion, is to be replaced by a new ship (to become HSwMS Artemis), currently being fitted out in Karlskrona and a new Logistics Battalion will be formed.
RADM Haslum is also responsible for the Swedish Marines, which are undergoing a significant change of role, as well as growing to three battalions by 2030.
“We have to be at sea in hours – not days, weeks, months, hours. The development focuses on high mobility, longer-range weapons systems and we will have mounted mortar systems on board our combat craft, not set up in the archipelago as today,” RADM Haslum explained.
“It’s not a light infantry battalion any longer, we will move to amphibious missions. The existing fleet of about CB 90s are gradually being upgraded and replaced with a new fleet of combat boats that supports this new development.
“The combination of firepower, sensors, high mobility and speed will increase our ability to control the littorals, in all dimensions.”
But in a lesson that perhaps Australia can learn much from – particularly in the transition from the Collins-class to what is planned to be a large fleet of nuclear-powered attack boats – the Swedish Armed Forces have recognised just buying expensive new toys is not a solution in its own right and investment needs to be made in people from the very beginning.
“It takes about tens to build a new submarine or surface warship from a blueprint, but it also takes about 10 years to train a Chief Engineer or to build infrastructure so, while we are performing here and now with high readiness and having responsibility in our neighbourhood to protect freedom of navigation, at the same time we’re preparing for the future,” RADM Haslum said.
While she hopes at least one more A26 submarine will be added to the 2023 Swedish Defence Bill and would like to see a fleet of between six and eight boats in an ideal world, she said she has to be careful what she wishes for.
“So, there’s no point demanding 12 submarines if we can’t crew them – you need submarines to allow you to man the future submarines as well. You need the space on board and the personnel so that you can educate the new people you have. It’s not a problem, but you need to do it very carefully."
A more detailed look at Sweden’s submarine programs and their potential applicability to Australia – should an interim submarine capability be deemed necessary – will appear in the July/August issue of ADM.
Disclaimer: The writer travelled to Sweden as a guest of Saab.