The 2021 budget was presented in the Austrian National Council these days and discussed along the fronts between government and opposition. One of the “winners” is surprisingly the Austrian Armed Forces, which, contrary to many prophecies of doom and forecasts, will not receive (even) less, but actually around 130 million euros more. A trend towards increasing defense budgets can also be seen in many other countries, with the increase being particularly pronounced in Sweden.
In the new government bill “Totalförsvaret 2021-2025” (Total Defense 2021-2025), the Stockholm coalition government – whose highly controversial Covid-19 strategy avoided billions in economic damage as in many other countries – is now proposing a significant, even record-breaking expansion of capabilities in both military and civilian defence. The draft law is based on an agreement between the red-green minority government and its two right-wing liberal supporting parties, the Center Party and the Liberal Party. The conservative opposition is behind the additional spending on the military, but is calling for even more far-reaching binding commitments for the period from 2025 to 2030. Even the Left Party, on whose votes the red-green minority government also relies, is behind the rearmament because it believes it safeguards Sweden’s neutrality. Between 2021 and 2025, the amount of direct funding for the Swedish Armed Forces will have increased by 27.5 billion Swedish kronor (around 2.61 billion euros) compared to 2020. In total, an additional 79 billion kronor (around 7.63 billion euros) is to be made available for comprehensive defense over the entire period. In 2023, the government will set up a control committee to ensure the implementation of the defense laws to be evaluated and to check that the increase and cost development are on track in accordance with the Riksdag’s decision on the direction and financial framework.
The draft provides for a new, expanded war organization with reinforcements in all branches and functions of defence, as well as the restoration of five regiments and an air force squadron. These are the Norrland Dragoon Regiment (K 4) in Arvidsjaur, the Älvsborg Amphibious Regiment (Amf 4) in Gothenburg, the Uppland Wing of the Flygvapnet (F 16) in Uppsala, the Bergslagen Artillery Regiment (A 9) in Kristinehamn, the Dalarna Regiment (I 13) in Falun, the Västernorrland Regiment (I 21) in Sollefteå and a training unit in Östersund. This also includes considerable investment in military equipment, strengthening cyber defense, ammunition and doubling the volume of basic training. Within civil defense, the overarching resilience in several important areas of society is also to be strengthened.
Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist already hinted at the increase in the defense budget to Militär Aktuell last year when he included the Swedish technical-scientific and financial association in the development study for the British-Italian 6th generation Tempest fighter (see Military News report). Hultqvist currently: “We will increase our resources for our defense readiness colossally by 2025. This is the biggest increase in our defense capabilities in 70 years. The bill is based on the proposal of both defense commissions for civil and military defense and is a signal to the Swedish people, but also to our neighborhood, that we take the security situation extremely seriously!” Within the military defence, the endurance of the war organization will be strengthened and a better balance will be established between the active service and its support units. The government also proposes to set up a new and expanded war organization from 2021, which will be successively staffed in the 2020s. Reinforcements are to take place in all branches and functions of defense. In addition, the capabilities of cyber defense and foreign intelligence will be strengthened. The total number of posts in the war organization is expected to increase to around 90,000, compared to 60,000 posts in 2020. This means that the number of people undergoing basic training in the National Total Defense Service will gradually increase to 8,000 per year by 2025. There will also be significant investment in key military equipment, the most expensive of which is likely to be the two new A26 submarines.
Civil and military defense should complement each other and be understood (more) comprehensively. In addition to the increase in funding for military defense, there will therefore also be a gradual strengthening of civil defense, with total funding rising to 4.2 billion kronor (around 400 million euros) in 2025. The aim is to strengthen Sweden’s ability to cope with a state of heightened alert and ultimately the need for war on a broad front. The focus is on the resilience of key social functions, in particular the healthcare system, the supply of food and drinking water, transport, public order and safety, energy supply, electronic communications and the postal service. “In order to maintain the balance in overall defense, it is important that civil defense continues to evolve. The proposals in the bill are key to being able to implement the improvement in military and civilian defense capabilities that the government considers necessary. It is about continuing to be able to assert our sovereignty in an increasingly complex security reality,” explained Defense Minister Hultqvist.
Sweden suspended compulsory military service in 2010. At the time, it was following the trend of a number of other European countries that considered conscription and recruitment to be outdated. However, the Swedish armed forces were soon faced with a problem that the German Bundeswehr has also experienced ever since: not enough volunteers and suitable recruits could be found. At the end of 2016, the Swedish military was short of more than 7,000 soldiers. In the meantime, the security situation around Sweden had changed significantly. Stockholm felt increasingly threatened by the Russian military’s “green man intervention” in Ukraine. This was because Moscow was increasingly flexing its military muscles in and especially over the Baltic Sea. It is argued that tensions between Russia and the NATO countries as well as Sweden and Finland* would turn the Baltic Sea into a security complex and a geostrategic crossroads. Sweden will inevitably be affected by a conflict in this region and therefore believes it needs to arm itself more strongly. The security situation in Northern Europe has also become more volatile in recent years to such an extent that military pressure on Sweden, including an attack, can no longer be ruled out. And these assessments or projections are apparently also catching on with the majority of the public, because when conscription was reintroduced in March 2017 – in order to remain militarily operational – something remarkable happened: according to the recruitment authority, interest in military service among young Swedes increased significantly. On the day of the reintroduction, for example, the number of applications was three times higher than usual. However, enlistment is very selective, as only 4,000 Swedes have to serve as soldiers each year, less than a tenth of a year group. However, this is gender-neutral, with equal numbers of men and women being drafted. And conscripts who refuse to serve for reasons of conscience do not have to do civilian service. Nevertheless, the number of troops is to be more than doubled from 50,000 now to 120,000 by 2035. *Incidentally, Finland will even spend 1.7 billion euros more on national defense in 2021 (see report) than in 2020 – an increase of 54 percent.
