Army of Sweden: strength, equipment, photo

No matter how civilized a society is, it will always strive to conquer the weak and gain greater power. Violence at all times was an important part of human life. A clear indicator of this fact is nothing else than wars, which in history are countless. The use of military force took place for various reasons: it could be a territorial dispute, an unfavorable foreign policy, the availability of resources that others do not have, and so on. An army of one or another power plays an important role in the process of state confrontations. In many countries this sector of activity has a long history. This determines the specifics of the formation and operation of these or other units. An excellent example in this case is the army of Sweden. At one time it was one of the strongest in Europe. To date, the Swedish army is a professional structure that uses the latest developments in the field of weapons and equipment. At the same time, the Swedish army has many specific aspects in terms of professional activity.

Swedish Armed Forces: features

The military sector of most states has a monotonous structure. Differences exist only in some units. The rest of the armed forces of any country consist of land, naval and air forces. In Sweden, the army is represented in the same classical "triangular" form. The main tasks of the armed forces of this country are to protect its territory and independence, as well as the rights and freedoms of its citizens. Thus, if we do not take into account the small features of the internal structure, in its essence this structure has nothing distinct, for example, from the armed forces of Russia, Britain, France, etc.

Interesting facts about the sun of Sweden

Despite the quite standard nature of the armed forces of the Swedish state, they have many specific aspects. For example, until 2010, the troops were fully equipped at the expense of compulsory draft. But, starting from the mentioned time mark, the appeal is completely canceled. This led to a large deficit of personnel in all branches of the armed forces. Many experts say that this problem has not been completely solved to this day.

As for the training of military personnel for the armed forces, it is carried out at the Karlberg Military Academy. This higher educational institution is located in a building that used to be a royal residence. Annually about 300 young officers are graduated from the Karlberg Academy. It should also be noted that Sweden is an active participant in peacekeeping activities around the world. Representatives of the state work within the framework of many missions of the UN and OSCE.

Swedish Army: A Brief Description

The armed forces of the state represented in the article, as already mentioned above, consist of three components. One of them is the army (the army of Sweden). Their number is about 13 thousand people. The main task of the army is to protect the state. But, as we know, Sweden respects the relative military neutrality in the world. Therefore, the key objectives can be called the training of air defense troops and land units.

Features of the army

There are many interesting moments that the land forces of Sweden are characterized.

1. The army of the state is the main military bloc, which accounts for about 70% of the total strength of the armed forces.
2. Land forces exist to prevent the occupation of the state during the war.
3. In the structure of the army there is a royal guards unit.
4. The army of Sweden is subordinated to the Ministry of Defense.
5. The command of an operational type (in wartime) is realized by the commander-in-chief. In the course of daily activities, he coordinates the army of the headquarters of the ground forces.

History of Army Formation

The Kingdom of Sweden is quite an ancient state. The foundations of his statehood were laid in bloody wars. The history of the army of Sweden is filled with a lot of victories and defeats. The dawn of the country's military sector occurred in the 17th century. By this time the Swedish army was already one of the most formidable in the whole of Europe. She showed her effectiveness in the Thirty Years' War, in which the kingdom gained significant territorial additions and domination on the Baltic Sea. At that time, the army was recruited at the expense of taxes levied on landowners. But, despite its "invincibility", the army suffers a crushing defeat from the Russian troops near Poltava. Today, historians explain this fact by the wrong strategy chosen by the Swedish commanders. Another way to understand how small, in comparison with the Swedish, the army of Peter the Great was able to win such a loud, for the whole of Europe victory, it is impossible.

The next bright historical stage is the Second World War. The complex political situation in Europe forced the Swedish government to strengthen the military sector. This led to the fact that in 1945 this state was ready to confront not only Germany and its allies, but also the Soviet Union.

Structure of land forces

The army of Sweden, the photo of which is presented in the article, has in its composition various divisions in terms of its combat tasks and type of activity. Of course, the basis of land forces are the formation of infantry, artillery and, of course, tank troops. There are some features. For example, artillery is divided into field and antiaircraft guns, which is in some way a feature of the army of Sweden. There is also an auxiliary sector in its composition. It is represented by engineer troops, as well as logistics and communications units. These units are responsible for the safety and efficiency of technology, material support for servicemen, the availability of uninterrupted and secure communication within the military apparatus. Thus, the Swedish army has a very competent and effective structure that allows the whole sector of the armed forces to work without any problems.

Military ranks of the army of Sweden

Contrary to many European trends, the armed forces of the state described in the article have a small gradation of titles. The sergeant and rank and file composition in its structure contains only six basic titles, namely:

• Private;
• Corporal and corporal;
• Sergeant and senior sergeant;
• Second-grade warrant officer.

A more extensive classification is in Sweden, the officer-general staff. It consists of four main sectors. The first are the Cadets. They are candidates for future officer positions. The next sector is the junior officers. These include ensigns, lieutenants and captains. Senior officers are majors, lieutenant colonels, colonels and colonels of the first stage. As for the senior command of the army, it is represented by the following four titles:

• Brigadier General;
• Major-General and Lieutenant-General;
• Colonel general.

Thus, the graduation of Swedish titles, as we see, is quite simple and concise. This largely eliminates confusion in the process of the entire formation.

Equipment and machinery

Form of the army of Sweden and the rest of the equipment consist of the most necessary things in the conditions of combat operations. The main field suit is the M-90 military kit. It is made in green and consists of a shirt, trousers, a cap, thermal underwear, a warm jacket, etc. The equipment of the army of Sweden includes special individual packages for dressing, flasks with a volume of 0.7 liters, various household items, such as a pair of spoons and forks . As for weapons, the main adaptations of the ground forces are rifles, carbines, machine guns and machine guns. To date, the representatives of the Swedish army use the following specimens:

• Rifle 90C;
• With a machine gun 58B;
• With a machine gun 88;
• Carabiner automatic 5С / D.

It should be noted that most of the equipment, which is in service with Sweden, is the product of the national manufacturer. In other words, the country is at war on its machines. The artillery sector is represented by the Swedish self-propelled howitzer Archer, as well as a 120-mm mortar. Tank troops are equipped with both national and foreign equipment, namely German, Finnish. The main tanks are "Leopard" 2S and "Leopard" 2A4. In addition to them, Sweden has BMW CV9040 and Pbv 401A.

In the fight against tanks, the Swedish military is assisted by special AT4 grenade launchers and anti-tank guided missiles Rb 55, 56.

Royal guard

The fact that Sweden is a monarchy, causes some features of the structure of the armed forces. A fairly significant role in the military sector is assigned to the Royal Guard. These are special formations that are part of a structure like the army of Sweden. The regiment of the Life Guards was formed in the 16th century. The main task of the unit is to protect the Stockholm royal residence. The structure of the regiment contains units of infantry, cavalry and support. Personnel formation of the Life Guards is carried out at the expense of servicemen of other combat arms.

Guardsmen are one of the visiting cards of Sweden. Every year, a large number of tourists visit Stockholm in the hope of seeing a ceremonial change of guard.

Instead of concluding

So, we found out what the army of Sweden is. The structure, history and its technical equipment prove the professionalism of servicemen and the high combat potential of this sector. Let's hope that the real power in the conditions of military operations of the Swedish army will never be demonstrated.