Swedish Army

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Coat of arms of the Swedish Army.
Coat of arms of the Swedish Army.

The Swedish Army (Swedish: Armén) is the army branch of the Swedish Armed Forces, the military of Sweden.

Contents

[edit] 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:

[edit] Leadership

Until 1975 the Swedish monarch was the formal head of the army. In 1937, the staff agency "Chief of the Army" (Swedish: 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: chefen för arméledningen) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters (Swedish: 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: generalinspektören för armén). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Navy" (Swedish: generalinspektören för marinen) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish: generalinspektören för flygvapnet).

[edit] 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

[edit] Chiefs of Army Staff

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

[edit] Inspectors General

  • Paul Degerlund, 1998–2000
  • Alf Sandqvist, 2000–2005
  • Sverker Göranson, 2005–2007
  • Berndt Grundevik, 2007–present

[edit] Rank

See Swedish Army rank insignia for details on ranks in the Army.

[edit] The Infantry

One regiment of infantry:

[edit] The Cavalry

One regiment and two battalions of cavalry:

  • Note that the Swedish army's cavalry are rangers and MP's

[edit] The Armoured Corps

(Swedish: Pansartrupperna)

Three regiments of armoured/mechanized troops:

[edit] The Artillery

One regiment of artillery:

[edit] The Anti-Aircraft Artillery

One regiment of anti-aircraft troops:

[edit] The Engineers

One regiment of engineering troops:

and one engineer company stationed in Boden for subarctic operations.

[edit] The Signal Corps

One regiment of signals:

[edit] The Logistic Corps

One regiment of logistical troops:

  • Trängregementet (TrängR) Skövde

[edit] The Home Guard

The Home Guard (Hemvärnet) consists of 60 battalions with a total of 42000 men. Many of the soldiers have served abroad in the various missions of the regular army. All Home Guards are former active soldiers who volunteered for the Home Guard.

[edit] Recruitment

The Swedish army recruitment based on conscription German style. All personnel are called up as conscripts for a year of national service in active combat units, after which it is possible to volunteer as officer, 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 1950's for service abroad.

[edit] Equipment

[edit] Small arms

The Swedish Army armament for Individual/Squad level include:

The Ak 5 assault rifle
The Ak 5 assault rifle

[edit] Vehicles

The Army uses a wide range of vehicles, mainly made by Swedish contractors. The Combat Vehicle 90 family of Infantry fighting vehicles has been an international success, with exports to countries including The Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland and Finland. Vehicles in the army:

[edit] Fire Support/Artillery

[edit] Future equipment

The Swedish army has six Rheinmetall AEV-3 KODIAK advanced armoured engineer vehicles on order during the period 2011-2012. [1]

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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Swedish Armed Forces