The Swedish government invests 9 billion crowns in air protection in terms of increasing defense spending. This is the biggest step from buying patriots.
On Monday, the Swedish government announced the purchase of German air defense systems IRIS-T SLM from the armor of the Diehl Defence worth nine billion Swedish crowns (approximately 809.5 million euros). This is reported to TASR, according to the AFP report.
“This air defense system is the first to buy and may be one of the most important defensive capacities that Sweden has received from the purchase of Patriot systems in the 1990s,” said Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, adding that the purchase is part of the “ongoing fast -armed country”.
Defense Minister Pal Jonson said at a press conference alongside Kristersson that the war in Ukraine “opened their eyes on the importance of strong air defense”.
Sweden drastically reduced its defense spending after the end of the Cold War. However, after the Russian annexation of the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, it began arming again.
Stockholm announced at the end of March that he wanted to increase his defense spending by approximately 300 billion Swedish crowns (almost 28 billion euros) in the next decade, which would mean a shift from the current 2.4 percent of GDP to 3.5 percent by 2030.
After the beginning of the war in Ukraine in 2022 after two centuries, the Nordic country gave up its military neutrality and applied for membership in the North Atlantic Alliance. It became a member in March last year.
