According to Michael Claesson, the Swedish Armed Forces are continuing their already started work to integrate with NATO on all fronts. This concerns, among other things, logistics, administration, management issues and the interconnection of different IT systems.
Plans must also be made to get defense personnel to NATO headquarters in other countries.
– We will complete many of the preparations that we have devoted to ourselves in the past year. Although there have been political bumps in the road, to say the least, our integration process has continued, says Michael Claesson.
– Now we will also have to, once the ratification is complete, begin the deployment of personnel and the integration into NATO’s capability and operational planning.
The work can take several years
It may take a long time before Sweden is fully in step with NATO, according to Michael Claesson.
– There is of course a long period of continued integration ahead of us. It takes six years from day one until we are a consolidated member. I’m not saying it needs to take that long, but that’s the time that NATO stipulates for you to reach a certain level, he says.
– For example, it could be about becoming fully integrated into NATO’s joint air and robotic defense. It is a technically advanced but very important capability that we place high on the priority list.
The west coast is singled out as a possible host area
For some time now, the armed forces have had the task of being able to deliver so-called host country support, to be able to receive foreign troops on Swedish soil – to NATO but also other countries, according to Michael Claesson.
– But there is no question of any permanent bases in this situation, he says.
Are there any particular places you plan to house them?
– I don’t want to single out anything in particular. But I can say this much that the Swedish west coast will always be of interest, as will the various connecting routes between Norway and Sweden.