NATO is richer for Sweden. What does this 32nd member state bring to the Alliance?
Sweden will soon officially become the 32nd member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. This is almost two years after the Nordic country submitted its official application (18 May 2022). Hungary was the last member of the Alliance to finally approve Sweden's entry into NATO after months of delays, as the new Hungarian President Tamas Sulyok yesterday signed a law confirming the said entry. Sweden will then be invited to sign the Washington Treaty and will officially become the 32nd member of the Alliance. According to analysts, the newest member of the Alliance brings with it a number of advantages, including a technologically advanced military, strong production in the defence sector and geographical location.
The approval of Sweden's entry into NATO took a long 20 months, with Hungary outpacing even Recep Erdogan's Turkey, which approved the entry this January, in the speed of approval. The Orbán government finally gave its last major blessing recently. Then all that is needed is Sweden's signature of the Washington Treaty before the Swedish flag is hoisted at the Alliance's Brussels headquarters.
"This is a historic day and a big step for Sweden," commented Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson on this milestone. "Sweden is a great country, but we are joining NATO to defend even better all that we are and all that we believe in," Kristersson added. "Now that all allies have been voted in, Sweden will become the 32nd NATO ally. Sweden's membership will make us all stronger and safer," commented Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on his X profile on Hungary's recent decision. With exaggeration, the Swedes (and not only) now call the Baltic Sea the "NATO lake", with the Alliance holding all its shores except the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Thanks to the Swedish strategic island of Gotland, submarines and other equipment can get closer to Russia and thus better observe this aggressor.
However, it is not just about geographical advantages. Sweden also has one of the largest defence industries in Europe, which will only strengthen the Alliance's military capabilities. According to the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank, Swedish arms and military equipment production will reach $3 billion in 2022, or more than 70 billion crowns, and the value of exports in this sector will be almost 47 billion crowns. In addition to around 130 JAS-39 Gripen fighters, the Swedes have over 120 Leopard 2 tanks, 500 CV90 tracked infantry fighting vehicles and five submarines, which are soon to be complemented by two of the latest A26 class, capable of sending underwater drones, among other things.
Although the Gripen fighter squadron is the largest in northern Europe, it is not very compatible with the rest of the Alliance, with the Czech Republic (which recently decided to rearm with the new US F-35s) and Hungary in particular owning additional Gripen machines. It is thus possible in the future, also because of the ongoing debates on its expansion, that the Swedes will eventually, like the rest of the Alliance, opt for American F-16s or F-35s. Together with Finland, Denmark and Norway, the Nordic countries have committed themselves in the Nordic Air Commander's Intent (NACI) pact, which brings the air forces of the aforementioned countries together to guard the northern part of the continent against possible Russian aggression in a common airspace.
The Swedish army has around 28 000 people serving, a number that is likely to grow in the coming years, not least because of the government's commitment. The number of reservists, currently estimated at around 10 000, will also grow. Stockholm has also announced a doubling of the existing military budget for this year compared to 2020. High arms spending is set to continue at a steady pace in the future due to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Europe's Silicon Valley
Analysts also note Sweden's high level of technological expertise, especially its extensive public-private partnerships. This is particularly the involvement of companies such as Ericsson and Nokia in the defence industry to develop cutting-edge advanced technologies. For this reason, the government there has already launched the Cybercampus initiative in 2020, on which local universities and private companies are working together with the Swedish Defence Forces within the Centre for Cyber Defence and Information Security in Stockholm.
In this context, experts point to the important role of the production of 5G equipment, specialised software and lithium batteries, and mention Hexagon and Northvolt, which are among the best in these fields. Combined with the billion-dollar successes of a number of technology start-ups, Sweden was nicknamed "Europe's Silicon Valley" some time ago. Equally important is the sphere of mineral extraction, where Sweden is one of the leading countries in Europe, not least because of the recent rare earth discoveries in the north of the country near the town of Kiruna. This fact should help to reduce dependence on, for example, China and other authoritarian governments with these riches in the future.
"The biggest problem is the scale (of a possible attack). The Swedish armed forces are incredibly technologically advanced, competent and capable, but as the war (in Ukraine) has shown, anything we have considered a sufficient case so far is nowhere near that," Oscar Jonsson, a researcher at the Swedish Defence University, described the unclear situation in the event of a possible attack from the east, according to The Telegraph.
Another British newspaper, The Guardian, also points out the little-known strategic fact of the possible defence of the capital itself, where the entire subway system there is operated by MTR - a Hong Kong government firm with close ties to the Chinese communist regime. "We have to assume that everything MTR knows about the tunnels and the whole infrastructure in Stockholm, it also knows in Beijing," national security expert Patrik Oksanen commented to The Guardian.
Sweden has denied membership of any military alliance for over 200 years. It was only Vladimir Putin's aggression near its own borders that forced it to change its traditional stance and the country's previously neutral direction. Similarly, neighbouring Finland submitted its application to join NATO at the same time as Sweden in 2022. Non-involvement in NATO, according to the reasoning of the former governments of these Nordic countries, should have led to Russia's reticence and delayed the escalation of mutual tensions. In this respect, however, Moscow's invasion of Ukraine has had quite the opposite effect, and NATO is now larger and stronger than before thanks to Finland and Sweden.
