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Military equipment of Sweden during the Cold War

Sweden played a role of major importance during the Cold War, despite not officially participating. Sweden's location made it an ideal base of operations for both the Soviet Union and the United States. Sweden was never invaded throughout the war, mainly due to their strong defensive power - ranked among the top five in the world at this time.

Army

Personal equipment

Small arms

Armored fighting vehicles

The Swedish army during the Cold War possessed more or less 24,000 ground vehicles, including 2,354 tanks, 1,257 armored fighting vehicles, and up to 20,000 utility vehicles.

Artillery and mortars

Coastal defence

The eastern coast of Sweden, along a length of more than 1500 kilometres, probably had the most powerful coastal defence system in the world. The system consisted of coastal artillery, submarines, battleships and aircraft. No less than 90 heavy cannons (typically 7.5 cm cannons) with large underground facilities were strategically located along the coast, together with a large number of bunkers and pillboxes.

Navy

The Swedish navy possessed a total of 129 ships between 1945 and 1991.

Seaplane cruisers

Cruisers

Sweden possessed four cruisers throughout the Cold War.

Destroyers

Sweden had a total of 35 destroyer-class vessels throughout the Cold War, most of them World War II models. As time went on, Sweden begun to put less effort in keeping large surface combatants and instead increasingly relied on patrol boats, fast attack craft, coastal artillery and air superiority. However this approach (especially the overreliance on lighter surface combatants) was somewhat discredited by the early 1980s. Attempts were then made to move back towards heavier more capable surface combatants (e.g. the Ytstridsfartyg Större [Surface Combatant Large] program), but this was ultimately curtailed by the sudden end to the Cold War.[a]

Destroyers in 1945: 28
Destroyers in 1950: 21
Destroyers in 1960: 24
Destroyers in 1970: 17
Destroyers in 1980: 13
Destroyers in 1991: 0

Coastal defense ships

The Swedish navy maintained 7 coastal defense ships after World War II, though some were taken out of service shortly after.

Corvettes

The Swedish navy had as few as six corvettes in service during the Cold War, relying on larger vessels during this time.

Mine warfare vessels

Sweden possessed 19 mine warfare vessels throughout the time period 1945–1991.

Patrol boats

Seventeen patrol boats were in service in the Royal Swedish Navy between 1945 and 1991.

Torpedo boats

Sweden had 12 torpedo boats during the Cold War.

Submarines

Sweden had a total of 26 submarines throughout the Cold War.

Auxiliary vessels

Air force

Sweden had a huge air force - the fourth largest in the world - throughout the Cold War, consisting of more than 4,000 aircraft. Out of these, no less than 3,574 aircraft were armed fighters along with many hundred bombers.[5]

Fighter aircraft

Bomber aircraft

Trainers

Transport aircraft

Helicopters

Resource management

The need for safe storage of large quantities of oil to support anticipated use of military equipment led to creative solutions, in particular the use of undressed rock chambers, the full environmental effects of which have not yet been ascertained.[6]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Though the 'Större' program was then merged with the Ytstridsfartyg Mindre [Surface Combatant Small] program to form the YS2000 (Surface Combatant 2000) program that would later result in the Visby-class corvette.

References

  1. ^ "Military - Hans Högman". www.hhogman.se. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  2. ^ "Military - Hans Högman". www.hhogman.se. Retrieved 2023-04-06.
  3. ^ "Composite Helmet, Ballistic helmets, Military helmets SWEDEN SWEDISH helmet, Kevlar helmet". www.gostak.co.uk. Retrieved 2023-04-07.
  4. ^ "PVRBBV 551". Archived from the original on 2013-10-08. Retrieved 2013-10-11.
  5. ^ "Sweden | Coldwarsites".
  6. ^ Nilson, Sofi The Swedish Oil Weapon, Storage of fuel in Sweden during the Cold War: Energy security and environmentally related aspects. (2021) https://uu.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1642502/FULLTEXT01.pdf Retrieved 30 September 2023

Sources and further reading