Swedish Army

The Swedish Army
	Coat of arms of The Swedish Army
Active	1521–Present
Country	Sweden
Type	Army
Part of	Swedish Armed Forces
March	Svenska arméns paradmarsch
Engagements	Swedish War of Liberation; Danish Count's Feud; Great Russian War; Northern Seven Years' War; Livonian War; Russo-Swedish War (1590–1595); War against Sigismund; Polish War; De la Gardie Campaign; Ingrian War; Kalmar War; Thirty Years' War; Torstenson War; First Bremian War; Second Northern War; Second Bremian War; Scanian War; Great Northern War; Hats' Russian War; Seven Years' War; Gustav III's Russian War; First Barbary War; War of the Fourth Coalition; Finnish War; War of the Sixth Coalition; Campaign against Norway; War in Afghanistan; 2011 Libyan civil war
Commanders
Generalmajor	Anders Brännström
Ceremonial chief	Sverker Göransson

The Swedish Army (Swedish language: Armén ) is one of the oldest standing armies in the world and a branch of the Swedish Armed Forces; it is in charge of land operations.

History[]

Main article: Military history of Sweden

Organization[]

The peace time organization of the Swedish Army is divided into a number of regiments for the different branches. The number of active regiments has been reduced since the end of the Cold War. The regiment forms training organisations that train the various battalions of the army and home guard.

The army is currently undergoing a transformation from conscription based recruitment to a professional defence. This is part of a larger goal to abandon the mass army from the Cold War and develop an army better suited to modern maneuver warfare and at the same time retain a higher readiness. By 2014, the Swedish army will have around 50 000 soldiers in either full-time or part-time duty, with eight mechanized infantry battalions instantly available at any time and the full force of 71 battalions ready to be deployed within one week.

The regular army will consist of 8 mechanized maneuver battalions, 19 support battalions of different kinds including artillery battalions, anti-aircraft battalions, combat engineer battalions, rangers, logistics battalions, etc. and 4 reserve heavy armoured battalions and 40 territorial defence battalions. The battalion is the core unit but all units will be completely modular and can be arranged in combat teams from company to brigade level with different units depending on the task. There will be a total of 6 permanent staffs under the central command capable of handling large battlegroups, 4 regional staffs and 2 brigade staffs.

Leadership[]

Until 1975 the Swedish monarch was the formal head of the army. In 1937, the staff agency "Chief of the Army" (Swedish language: chefen för armén , CA) was created to lead the army in peace time. Following a larger reorganization of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1994, CA ceased to exist as an independent agency. Instead, the post Chief of Army Staff (Swedish language: chefen för arméledningen ) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters (Swedish language: Högkvarteret , HKV).

In 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces was again reorganized. Most of the duties of the Army Chief of Staff were transferred to the newly instituted post of "Inspector General of the Army" (Swedish language: generalinspektören för armén ). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Navy" (Swedish language: generalinspektören för marinen ) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish language: generalinspektören för flygvapnet ).

Chiefs of the Army[]

Per Sylvan, 1937–1940
Ivar Holmquist, 1940–1944
Archibald Douglas, 1944–1948
Carl August Ehrenswärd, 1948–1957
Thord C:son Bonde, 1957–1963
Curt Göransson, 1963–1969
Carl Eric Almgren, 1969–1976
Nils Sköld, 1976–1984
Erik G. Bengtsson, 1984–1990
Åke Sagrén, 1990–1994

Chiefs of Army Staff[]

Åke Sagrén, 1994–1996
Mertil Melin, 1996–1998

Inspectors General[]

Paul Degerlund, 1998–2000
Alf Sandqvist, 2000–2005
Sverker Göranson, 2005–2007
Berndt Grundevik, 2007–2012
Anders Brännström,2012–present

Commander In Chief[]

Olof Thörnell, 1939-1944
Helge Jung, 1944-1951
Nils Swedlund, 1951-1961
Torsten Rapp, 1961-1970
Stig Synnergren, 1970-1978
Lennart Ljung, 1978-1986
Bengt Gustafsson, 1986-1994
Owe Wiktorin, 1994-2000
Johan Hederstedt, 2000-2003
Håkan Syrén, 2004-2009
Sverker Göransson, 2009–2015
Micael Bydén, 2015-present

Infantry[]

Two regiments of infantry

Livgardet (LG) stationed in Stockholm.
Norrbottens regemente (I19) stationed in Boden.

Cavalry[]

One regiment and two battalions of cavalry:

Livregementets husarer (K 3) stationed in Karlsborg (Air Assault Ranger battalion, long range reconnaissance Ranger battalion and ISTAR)
Arméns Jägarbataljon (AJB, former K 4) (part of I 19) in Arvidsjaur (Ranger Battalion/ISTAR)
Livgardet (LG) (one battalion) stationed in Stockholm (King's mounted Lifeguards and Military police)

Note that the Swedish army's cavalry primarily trains light infantry, ranger units and military police.

CBRN-defence[]

One company of Chemical, Biological, Radiation, Nuclear defence-trained personnel

Totalförsvarets Skyddscentrum (SkyddC) Umeå [1]

Armoured Corps[]

(Swedish language: Pansartrupperna )

Three regiments of armoured/mechanized troops:

Skaraborgs regemente (P 4) Skövde
Södra skånska regementet (P 7) Revingehed
Norrbottens regemente (I 19) (While designated as infantry, the regiment is responsible for the training of most army branches in the Northern Sweden ) Boden

Artillery[]

One regiment of artillery:

Artilleriregementet (A 9) Boden

Anti-Aircraft Artillery[]

One regiment of anti-aircraft troops:

Luftvärnsregementet (Lv 6) Halmstad

Engineers[]

One regiment of engineering troops:

Göta ingenjörregemente (Ing 2) Eksjö

Signal Corps[]

One regiment of signals:

Ledningsregementet (LedR) Enköping

Logistic Corps[]

One regiment of logistical troops:

Trängregementet (TrängR) Skövde

Rapid Reaction Force[]

The Swedish army will form a Rapid Reaction Organisation (Insatsorganisation in Swedish) in 2014 with the following units.^[1]

Army Unit
War Units	Training Unit	Area	Comments
1. Tekniska Bataljon	Försvarsmaktens tekniska skola (FMTS)	Halmstad	1 Technical battalion
2. Brigadstaben	Skaraborgs regemente (P 4)	Skövde	2 Brigade staff
3. Brigadstaben	Norrbottens regemente (I 19)	Boden	3 Brigade staff
Livbataljonen	Livgardet (LG)	Kungsängen	Life battalion
13. Säkerhetsbataljon	Livgardet (LG)	Kungsängen	13 Security battalion
21. Ingenjörsbataljonen	Göta ingenjörregemente (Ing 2)	Eksjö	21 Engineering battalion
22. Ingenjörsbataljonen	Göta ingenjörregemente (Ing 2)	Eksjö	22 Engineering battalion
31. Luftburna bataljonen	Livgardet (LG)	Kungsängen	31 Airborne (7. Modular) battalion (light). Trained with K 3
31. Luftburna bataljonen	Livregementets husarer (K 3)	Karlsborg	31 Airborne (7. Modular) battalion (light). Trained with LG
32. Underrättelsebataljonen	Livregementets husarer (K 3)	Karlsborg	32 Reconnaissance (light) (inc. a company of Parachute Rangers)
41. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Skaraborgs regemente (P 4)	Skövde	41 Mechanised (1. modular) battalion (mechanised)
42. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Skaraborgs regemente (P 4)	Skövde	42. Mechanised (2. modular) battalion (mechanised)
61. Luftvärnsbataljonen	Luftvärnsregementet (Lv 6)	Halmstad	61 Air defence battalion
62. Luftvärnsbataljonen	Luftvärnsregementet (Lv 6)	Halmstad	62 Air defence battalion
71. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Södra skånska regementet (P 7)	Revingehed	71 Mechanised (5. modular) battalion (mechanised)
72. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Södra skånska regementet (P 7)	Revingehed	72 Mechanised (6. modular) battalion (mechanised)
91. Artilleribataljon	Artilleriregementet (A 9)	Boden	91 Artillery battalion
92. Artilleribataljon	Artilleriregementet (A 9)	Boden	92 Artillery battalion
191. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Norrbottens regemente (I 19)	Boden	191 Mechanised (3. modular) battalion (mechanised)
192. Mekaniserade bataljonen	Norrbottens regemente (I 19)	Boden	192 Mechanised (4. modular) battalion (mechanised)
193. Jägarbataljonen	Norrbottens regemente (I 19)	Arvidsjaur	Army Rangers (light)
1. CBRN-kompaniet	Totalförsvarets skyddscentrum	Umeå	CBRN
1. Transportkompaniet	Trängregementet (TrängR)	Skövde	1 Logistics company
1. Stridsvagnskompaniet	Skaraborgs regemente (P 4)	Skövde	1 Tank company
2. Stridsvagnskompaniet	Skaraborgs regemente (P 4)	Skövde	2 Tank company
3. Stridsvagnskompaniet	Norrbottens regemente (I 19)	Boden	3 Tank company
14. Militärpoliskompaniet	Livgardet (LG)	Kungsängen	14 Military police company
15. Militärpoliskompaniet	Livgardet (LG)	Kungsängen	15 Military police company

In addition, the force will include a number of personnel from the Territorial Defence Force.

Equipment[]

Main article: Equipment of the Swedish Army

Territorial Defence Forces[]

The Territorial Defence Forces/Home Guard (Hemvärnet) consists of 40 battalions with a total of 22,000 men. Many of the soldiers have served abroad in the various missions of the regular army. All soldiers are former conscripts who volunteered for the Territorial Defence.^[2]

Recruitment[]

Until 2010 the Swedish army recruitment was based on conscription German style. All personnel were called up as conscripts for a year of national service, after which, the unit he/she trained with was put in the war reserve. Upon completion of conscript service with sufficient service marks, conscripts are eligible to apply for commissioned officer training, NCO/Warrant Officer or from 2007 stay in the Army as a professional private, mainly to be employed in the Nordic Battle Group. The army has employed soldiers for UN service on short time contracts since the 1950s for service abroad.

From the first of July 2010 the conscription-based system was abandoned and a professional army is being developed.