New technology decisive on the battlefield of the future

The armed forces need to increase the ability to quickly adopt new technology to solve military problems.

A new strategy will ensure that Sweden is at the forefront when it comes to developing military technology.

– The goal is for the armed forces to be superior on the battlefield of the future by being able to better adapt civilian technology to military capabilities, says Minister of Defense Pål Jonson (M) in his speech at the People and Defense National Conference in Sälen.

After the speech, he presented the government’s “Strategic direction for defense innovation”.

The background to the strategy is the war in Ukraine, which has shown how crucial it is with a defense that can quickly adapt to the enemy and find innovative solutions, the government writes in the strategy. Civilian technology, such as drones, quickly gained a prominent role on the battlefields.

The government points out that there has been an accelerating development of ground-breaking technology, for example in AI, quantum technology and autonomous systems, especially in the civil sector.

The strategy is about increasing cooperation between the defense sector and business and research in the civilian sector in order to discover and adapt new technology to the needs of the military defence.

Here we see challenges today, not least because of the growing distance between the defense sector and the civilian sector that has developed after the Cold War, the strategy says.

To back up the strategy financially, the Total Defense Research Institute, FOI, receives SEK 100 million this year to start a business to study and develop emerging and disruptive technologies for the benefit of defense and security. That sum rises to SEK 189 million in 2026.

The Swedish Armed Forces and Vinnova receive SEK 60 million per year to jointly initiate, plan for, and implement an innovation program with the aim of utilizing civil-military synergies in research and development.