Sweden: The Military that Disappeared

by Ingrid Carlqvist • August 7, 2015 at 5:00 am

According to a 2013 statement by Sweden's Supreme Commander Sverker Göransson, Sweden can, at best and in five years, defend itself in one place for one week.
"One needs to always be prepared to defend the nation's capital, vital infrastructure, power supply and telecommunications, important airports, import of basic necessities and military reinforcements. ... [Sweden] today does not have that capability. ... The consensus had been that no state in Europe would ever attack another state. But someone just had, and it wasn't just anybody. It was Russia." — Wilhelm Agrell, military historian.
"The idea of defending Sweden as the most important thing was lost." — Owe Wictorin, former Supreme Commander.
"As far as the Russians are concerned, it would be a great advantage to 'borrow' Gotland. ... it's quick and easy and they can say: 'We mean you no harm, you'll get Gotland back in two-to-three months, we just need to get the Baltic states to do what we want.'" — Karlis Neretnieks, former head of the National Defense College.
Parliament demanded many things, but has never given the Armed Forces enough money to do them.

Russian TV mocks Sweden's military capabilities. (Image source: Yesterday Live video screenshot)

A couple of decades ago, Sweden had a strong military. Its air force was one of the capable in the world, its navy had dozens of ships and submarines, and artillery guarded the coastlines from a multitude of secret mountain hideaways.

Now, after a number of fatal decisions, based on the belief that wars in Europe were a thing of the past, most of its military is gone and Sweden has virtually no means of protecting itself.

According to Sweden's Supreme Commander Sverker Göransson, we can, at best and in five years, defend ourselves in one place for one week.

Sweden is a large country: with 447,435 square kilometers, it is the fifth largest in Europe. It also has one of the longest coastlines in Europe (3,200 kilometers), which not easily defensible.