The Hungarian Parliament’s approval removed the final hurdle to Sweden’s accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
This comes more than a year after its application in May 2022 to become a member of the alliance, ending decades of Stockholm’s official neutrality in foreign policy.
The American magazine “Newsweek” said that with Sweden’s accession, NATO will end the expansion process to 32 members, which it began after the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, and also included Finland, which raises a question about the addition that Stockholm will make to NATO’s military arsenal.
While the Swedish Ministry of Defense confirmed that by the end of this year its military spending would reach 2% of its gross domestic product, Neil Melvin, director of international security at the Royal United Services Institute in London, said that Sweden “brings to the alliance a well-equipped army.”
The Swedish Armed Forces consist of about 24,000 active personnel, 11,400 reserves, and 21,000 internal guards, but Stockholm plans to recruit 8,000 people annually starting in 2025 instead of 6,000 currently.
Swedish infantry units are supported by about 500 armored infantry fighting vehicles, including modern CV-90 vehicles.
Swedish forces can call in 26 155 mm “Archer” self-propelled artillery systems, designed to evade counter-battery fire and which can stabilize to fire 3 aimed rounds before leaving the position within 75 seconds.
Archer operators can adjust the launch angle and number of charges to make the three missiles land simultaneously, and its longer-range missiles can reach targets up to 31 miles away.
Sweden’s most important contributions to NATO are its massive air and naval forces, designed to cover the country’s 2,000-mile coastline, the Baltic Sea, and airspace extending into the Arctic region.
Sweden has about 100 Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter aircraft, which are designed to confront Russian surface-to-air missiles and fast aircraft by flying at a very low altitude. They can also take off and land on damaged runways and highways.
Sweden has 4 reconnaissance aircraft, two Gulfstream G-IV aircraft equipped for signals intelligence, and two Saab 340 AEW&C aircraft for early warning and airborne control capabilities.
It also has four batteries of US-made Patriot surface-to-air systems with PAC-3 interceptor missiles with a range of about 75 miles.
Sweden will play a major role in NATO’s control of the Baltic Sea, which serves vital Russian ports. It has 4 submarines, 3 of the “Gotland” class and a diesel-electric submarine of the “Södermanland” class, in addition to two new attack submarines of the “A26” class, “Blekinge and Skåne” from They are scheduled to be launched in 2027 and 2028.
The Swedish submarines are designed to operate in the shallow waters of the Baltic Sea, compared to the larger submarines of member states, which helps the alliance in its quest to track Russian ships and prevent developments on the seabed.
Other Swedish ships include 7 corvettes, 8 minesweepers, a large patrol ship, and more than a dozen smaller patrol ships.
