Line #4 UsefulNotes/SwedesWithCoolPlanes


1	->''"They were Swedes; in terms of individual intelligence, integrity and single-mindedness I was to find them among the most impressive soldiers I had ever encountered."''
2	-->-- '''Anthony Loyd'''
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4	The Swedish Armed Forces is responsible for protecting UsefulNotes/{{Sweden}}, and are composed of the Army, the Air Force, and the Navy, which includes the Amphibious Force or Marines. Swedens answer to ElitesAreMoreGlamorous is SOG or "Särskilda Operationsgruppen" [[note]]Special Operations Team. Roughly comparable to Delta Force, in that they are an elite for the elites, with everything about them being highly hush-hush.[[/note]]
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6	Until recently, Sweden relied on conscription of men, due to the need to be able to put together an Army that could hold its own against the USSR, should the UsefulNotes/ColdWar go hot. Women have been able to volunteer since 1980. In 2010, conscription was abolished, due to changes in international politics, and an increasing focus on peacekeeping operations, as opposed to homeland defence. It was reintroduced in 2017, with the first conscripts recruited in 2018, amid fears about Russia; this time, both men and women can be called on to serve. Note that, although conscription has been legally reintroduced, the number of actually conscripted individuals (and overall size of the armed forces) are far lower than they were during the Cold War: during the Cold War, approximately 80% of men in a given year's cohort had to complete their military service; at present, fewer than 10% of a cohort are actually required to serve.
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8	Sweden avoided both [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne World]] [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo Wars]], mainly due to skillful diplomacy (including making concessions to Germany) and sheer dumb luck. (Although being one of Germany's largest suppliers of iron ore certainly didn't hurt.) Considering the crappy state of the Swedish military at the time, this was probably not a bad idea. To give you some idea of the state of Swedish preparations for UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, men who owned hunting rifles were advised to bring them and ammunition, since they were guaranteed to be better than the standard Army issue rifles.
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10	The Swedes make their own military equipment, and Saab AB (not to be confused with SAAB Automobile that was sold to GM then sold to Spyker in 2009 and now in bankrupcy since 2011) makes veritably cool planes, like the [[CoolPlane Draken]] (''Dragon''), [[CoolPlane Viggen]] (''Thunderbolt''), and [[CoolPlane Gripen]] (''Gryphon'') fighters, all delta-wing, and according to them, will shame the Eurofighter Typhoon and the F-22 Raptor of the United States. There is some tradition behind this, with Sweden having managed to do odd things like being the first country outside the Soviet Union, Germany and the USA to develop and mass-produce swept-wing jet-fighters in the wake of UsefulNotes/WW2, with the aptly named J 29 Flygande Tunnan (''Flying Barrel''). In the beginning of the 1950's, Sweden was estimated to have the world's fourth largest air force.
11	"Flygande Tunnan" was given it's swansong in the Congo Crisis of the 1960's, when Swedish fighter pilots engaged in dogfights for the first time since the UsefulNotes/WinterWar. The Swedes used the AIM-4 Falcon missile much longer than the United States did, only phasing it out in the 1980s.
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13	Because the Swedes make their own military equipment they have also been able to design equipment to fit their special needs and tactics. The S-Tank (Stridsvagn 103) with the FixedForwardFacingWeapon have been designed to use a type of {{hit and run tactic\|s}}. The tanks would dig into the ground (or snow), wait for the Soviet tanks, shoot, sprint backwards and then rinse and repeat as needed. The lack of turret limited their ability to aim (though with an advanced hydropneumatic suspension not nearly as limited as one might think; the main limitation was the inability to aim at a target unless the tank is stationary), but also made them rather small targets that were hard to aim ''at''. A more recent example is the stealthy ''Gotland''-class submarines, designed for anti-ship/anti-submarine warfare and intelligence. In a recent NATO exercise, one of them infiltrated a [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks US Navy Carrier Battle Group]] and photographed the fleet carrier USS ''Ronald Reagan'' from torpedo range, then withdrew, completely undetected. In another exercise, a ''Gotland'' 'sank' a US ballistic missile submarine, also undetected.
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15	Swedish hand-held weapons of various kinds have a reputation for being durable and reliable, and are used by many armies around the world. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustav_M/45#Users Swedish Carl Gustav m/45 SMGs]] were used by the U.S. Navy [=SEALs=] in Vietnam[[note]]Unauthorized copies rather. The Swedish goverment did not support the Vietnam war, and didn't officially sell any weapons to the United States and specifically cut off export of the m/45 when they realized it was favored by the [=SEALs=][[/note]], [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Gustav_recoilless_rifle Swedish recoilless rifles]] were used by the British in the Falklands, and are currently used by SOCOM and the U.S Army Rangers, among others, and the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT4 AT4 anti-tank weapon]] currently used by many national armies, including the U.S. Armed Forces, is a Swedish design.
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17	Speaking of SMG's, the infamous [[GoodGunsBadGuns TEC-9]] is also Swedish, originally designed by the Stockholm based company Interdynamic AB (as a cheaper version of the above-mentioned m/45), but produced by its American branch. The American version was actually semi-auto rather than an SMG, but the initial version proved entirely too easy for criminals to illegally alter for full-auto fire and thus attain an unregistered SMG.
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19	Sweden also had a [[UsefulNotes/TheRestOfTheNuclearClub nuclear weapons program]] in the 1950s through the 1970s, primarily to maintain an independent deterrent in the UsefulNotes/ColdWar--neutrality did not mean that Sweden had any guarantees it would be kept out of the crossfire should WorldWarIII break out (unlike their fellow neutrals in [[UsefulNotes/SwissWithArmyKnives Switzerland]], Swedish borders are a lot longer and less mountainous), and the Swedes wanted something to back it up. It was scrapped in favor of the aforementioned Viggen, but Sweden's active civilian nuclear power program is widely considered to give it breakout capacity (the capability to construct a nuclear weapon at relatively short notice).
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21	And we can't forget the [[ImpossiblyCoolWeapon ARCHER artillery system]]. Its rate of fire is 8-9 rounds per minute and deployment time is 30 seconds. It is capable of firing 155 mm rounds and supports [[DeathFromAbove M982 Excalibur]], a GPS guided shell. Using Excalibur ARCHER can with a accurately hit targets up to 60 km away. And speaking of artillery systems, one would be remis not to mention the [[MoreDakka Bandkanon 1]]. While obsolete and retired, being replaced by the previously mentioned ARCHER, it was an artillery platform that still holds the world record for fastest rate of fire in an SPG, able to fire 15 rounds in 45 seconds. That means it could empty its entire clip before the first round had even hit the ground.
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23	Interestingly Sweden was once one of the greatest military powers in Europe and it had armies led by [[WarriorPrince Warrior Princes]] like Gustavus Adolphus and [[UsefulNotes/CarolusRex Charles XII]]. Its domination of the iron cannon industry in the 17th century arguably helped. Also note that in spite of a 200-year old policy of neutrality (arguably abolished in practice through the Lisbon Treaty, and now fully ended by joining NATO) Sweden has been very active in peacekeeping operations throughout the latter part of the 20th century. Notable contributions include The Congo Crisis in the 60's, Kosovo 90's to present, Sudan/Chad in the early 00's and Afghanistan and anti-piracy operations in the Gulf of Aden today. [[note]]In the case of the Congo Crisis, and Afghanistan, it should be noted that the Swedish Military is/was practically not involved in "peacekeeping" but [[AttackAttackAttack "peacemaking",]] which is ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin. Swedish troops in Afghanistan served (Swedens official commitment to Afghanistan ended in 2014) under the banner of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Security_Assistance_Force ISAF]] who were authorized by the UsefulNotes/UnitedNations but not lead by them. ISAF's main job was "security missions" and not peacekeeping. [[/note]]
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25	Unlike Norway and Denmark, Sweden remained outside of UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} for decades. In the wake of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, however, Sweden (along with Finland) applied to join NATO; after substantial delays (due to objections from Turkey and Hungary), Sweden was admitted to the alliance in 2024. Even before applying to join, Sweden had a ''Memorandum of Understanding'' with NATO, which in practice meant that Sweden [[SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute allows NATO to use her territory for military exercises, mobilization and even the use of Swedish military personnel in various hotspots around the world.]] (See the note under the blurb about peacekeeping, above.)
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28	!!In fiction:
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30	* In ''Literature/TheCardinalOfTheKremlin'', the USS ''Dallas'' is discovered and hailed by a Swedish patrol craft when entering the Baltic Sea, the whole incident is resolved within half a page. Oh, and the Swedish captain speaks in a FunetikAksent.
31	* ''VideoGame/WargameAirlandBattle'' features combat within Sweden amidst WorldWarIII. Story-wise, the Soviets were fighting against Norwegian troops, then after Sweden decided to mobilize its forces, the Pact preemptively invades.
32	* The ''Arma'' series has several fan made mods, most notably the ''Swedish Armed Forces'' mod, that add the Swedish military to the list of factions.
33	* The AnthropomorphicPersonification of a Gripen fighter-jet serve as the main heroine in ''Literature/GirlyAirForce'', alongside the actual jet fighter as its "main body".
34	* The loading screens for the European missions of ''VideoGame/WorldInConflict'' show that the Soviets launched an invasion of Sweden with amphibious landings in the south and an attack from occupied Finland in the north. Stockholm has fallen to the Soviets but most of the country remains free with the Swedes fighting back.
35	* In 2016, ''VideoGame/WorldOfTanks'' introduced a Swedish tech tree to the game, comprised of both real tanks and blueprint only tanks, including the famous Strv 103. The branch uses Shoot and Scoot tactics as it main playstyle with good speed, guns and gun depression at the cost of armor.[[note]]While thin overall, the top-tier Swedish tanks can all be situationally quite durable from the front. The Strv 103B tank destroyer's thin but insanely well-sloped armor can bounce a lot of shots (except from [[{{BFG}} very large guns]] that are high enough caliber to overmatch). The Kranvagn heavy tank's turret front is very thick even though the hull and the turret sides are thin, so if it can get into a good hull down position and exploit its gun depression it's very hard to penetrate. And the UDES 15/16 medium tank's insanely good gun depression, very sloped turret front and small size make it very tough to kill when it's shooting down over a ridgeline. But if any of them are caught out in the open and especially with their side or rear exposed, [[GlassCannon almost anything can kill them]].[[/note]]
36	* The ''Svenska Marinen'' are the first neutral navy that were featured in ''VideoGame/KanColle''. They are represented by the AnthropomorphicPersonification of [=HSwMS=] ''Gotland'', a seaplane cruiser known for her sighting of German battleship ''Bismarck'' which plays a significant role in the British chase on the great battleship.
37	* ''VideoGame/WarThunder'' features Swedish ground/armored vehicles and aircraft, including iconic Swedish hardware such as the Draken and the Strv 103.

Context UsefulNotes / SwedesWithCoolPlanes