Sweden can quickly be included in NATO’s regional defense plans when membership is complete.
Swedish forces are expected to receive important tasks in the Northern Hemisphere, in Finland and in the Baltics.
The NATO summit in Vilnius has approved the defense alliance’s new regional defense plans. They are the most comprehensive and detailed plans the alliance has had since the Cold War.
The plans are secret.
– We assess that the Baltic Sea area, but also the North Calotte, are strategically important areas for Sweden and for NATO, says Defense Minister Pål Jonson (M).
NATO’s top military commander Christopher Cavoli has drawn up the three regional plans. One for northern Europe and the Atlantic, another for central Europe from the Baltics to the Alps, and a third covering southern Europe, including the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.
Major General Matthew Van Wagenen at NATO’s military headquarters recently stated that Sweden can be integrated into the plans almost immediately after entry.
Easier to defend
That Sweden becomes part of the defense plans will facilitate NATO’s defense of the Northern Hemisphere, Finland and the Baltics.
Sweden has, among other things, advanced submarines, warships and fighter aircraft that will be available to NATO.
– Alongside that, Sweden offers NATO strategic and operational depth, says Jonson.
This means that it will be easier for NATO to defend Finland and the Baltics, among other things because reinforcements can be based and transported through Sweden.
TT: Can Sweden participate in defending the Baltics?
– There can definitely be talk of that. It is, of course, about how NATO develops its regional plans, says Jonson.
The Swedish government has offered NATO to contribute ground combat forces to NATO’s multinational battle groups in the three Baltic states, which are also present in peacetime. Those battlegroups are to be expanded from battalion size to brigade size.
As a NATO member, Sweden is also ready to participate with the Gripen plane in NATO’s air patrols over the Baltics.
Strategically important
The Northern Hemisphere is an area that is strategically important to NATO. The area north of the Arctic Circle consists of the northernmost parts of Norway, Sweden and Finland.
Swedish NATO membership means that the three countries can deepen their cooperation for the defense of the Northern Hemisphere, which has already begun.
– It is clear that it will be important to coordinate ground combat forces in the Northern Cape, says Jonson.
The Nordic defense chiefs have told NATO that they want the forces of the Nordic countries to be led from the same NATO headquarters.
ÖB Micael Bydén stated in May that in the long term it looks like this will happen and that the headquarters will be Norfolk in the USA.
– The assessment right now is that it will take a few years before you have the opportunity to fully deploy resources, above all to be able to lead ground combat units, says Jonson.
Headquarters in Sweden?
It could also be relevant that NATO wants to establish a regional headquarters in the Nordics or tactical commands. In that case, it could end up in Sweden.
– If there is interest in it from NATO, of course I do not rule this out, says Jonson.
Defense Minister Jonson assesses that defense cooperation between the Nordic countries will be even stronger than today, when Sweden is fully integrated into NATO.
Sweden is in the process of building up a Norrlandsbrigad which will be specialized to fight in the sub-Arctic environment. Similar forces exist in Norway and Finland. Together, they may form an important part in the defense of the northernmost Nordic region.
Norway’s Prime Minister is happy that the neighboring country can soon join NATO.
– We will be able to count on support from Sweden in the defense of Norway. And Sweden can count on support from Norway, says Jonas Gahr Støre.