As the Swedish Air Force marks its 100th anniversary, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has set out how it sees future Swedish air capability developing, in an interview with Carl-Fredrik Edström, head of FMV's Air and Space Materiel division and a former fighter pilot.
"It's almost dizzying, over 100 years. What has happened, how fast it has gone, and how much we have managed to do," Edström said, describing the shift from wood-and-paper aircraft through the Tunnan, Draken, Viggen and Gripen fighters to today's networked, multi-domain systems.”
FMV has been involved in Swedish air projects including the Gripen fighter and the move from the ASC 890 airborne surveillance aircraft to the new GlobalEye system, designated S 106. Sweden is also building up a national space capability, including satellites launched from Esrange.
On drones, Edström pointed to Ukraine: "What happens is that it becomes measure and countermeasure. There is a competition between them all the time". In regard to procurement, he stated that “[FMV] must keep up and create the ability to, when needed, produce the amount needed in a short time and then be able to focus on the next one, which may take place in a few months.
On the future of air power, Edström said that “we are moving towards a mix of manned and unmanned systems. It will be done through the possibility of AI, having an autonomous AI capability in flying systems.”
He described sharing data across domains: "It gives the ability to detect a target in one domain, verify it from another and combat it from the third. And it should be possible to do this lightning fast, without any time delay". He added that "sensors in space will be a natural part of the Armed Forces' operations in a completely different way in the next century."