Fredrik Jacobsson has left his position as the Swedish Army's Weapons Officer and has been appointed Training Manager at Aimpoint AB, a Malmö (southern Sweden) based company that has dominated the sighting systems market for decades. After completing his conscription service at IB 12 (Infantry Battalion 12) in Eksjö (southern Sweden), Fredrik Jacobsson trained as an officer and initially served at P 7 (Revingehed Armoured Regiment) in Revingehed (southern Sweden). There he eventually became weapons officer and trained the unit's soldiers and shooting instructors. Ten years later he became the weapons officer at the Ground Combat School (Markstridsskolan) and ultimately the Army's Weapons Officer. In that role he wrote shooting regulations for small arms and anti-armour weapons, and conducted instructor training both at the Ground Combat School and at units across the Swedish Armed Forces.
After 20 years as a professional officer, it is time for new challenges.
"It felt natural for me to continue within the defence industry. I see it as still playing for the same team, but in a different position on the pitch than before. Training and developing others has always been my primary task, and I am very pleased to have the opportunity to continue doing that, in a new form and across the entire world," says Fredrik Jacobsson, Training Manager at Aimpoint AB.
NDS: What does your new role involve?
FJ: I support Aimpoint's sales and marketing by conducting training, both external and internal, and by carrying out demonstrations of Aimpoint's products for potential customers. It is a broad portfolio to get to grips with, where I need to be able to answer highly detailed technical questions about the products, train customers in a credible manner on the products they have purchased, and demonstrate the benefits of other parts of Aimpoint's product range. All of this is aimed at helping the customer meet their needs as fully as possible and increasing the potential for further business.
NDS: What attracted you to the role and to Aimpoint specifically?
FJ: I have used Aimpoint's products both in service and privately for hunting and competitive shooting for a long time. I fired my first shots with a red dot sight from Aimpoint back in 2000 and have since then had a deep-rooted confidence in the company and its products. As a soldier, you appreciate equipment that is simple to understand and use, easy to train on, and that you feel you can trust 100% when it truly matters. For me, our red dot sights have always been exactly that kind of equipment. I have always seen a career in the defence industry as a very attractive continuation of my career after the Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten), and Aimpoint has, for many reasons, always ranked extremely highly on the list of companies I could see myself working for.
NDS: What is your focus over the coming three months?
FJ: I will be getting to grips with my responsibilities, getting to know my colleagues and working methods, understanding the company's internal life and structure, learning more about our products, and above all ramping up to speed so that I can become fully effective as soon as possible.
NDS: What trends do you see in the industry?
FJ: The major development leaps in the small-calibre field and man-portable anti-armour weapons are occurring primarily on the sighting systems and ammunition side. A soldier from the 1960s would largely recognise the assault rifles and grenade launchers used today, but for optics and optronics the trend is towards smaller and lighter sights, smart and range-finding sights, and networked systems. In the near future, red dot sights on pistols will very likely become the norm, and it will probably be the rule rather than the exception that anti-armour weapons will feature smart sights that help the shooter quickly engage the target with a very high probability of a first-round hit in all situations, all in order to win the engagement. Sights for hunting and competitive shooting are subject to the same development, and the same applies there: sights are becoming smaller, lighter, more effective, and help the shooter more quickly engage the right target with a high probability of a hit. Aimpoint is at the forefront of development in the industry in these areas.
NDS: Which customers and countries will you be working with?
FJ: I will be working with both our professional customers, primarily military and police, and with our customers in the hunting and sport shooting segments. Our market is global and I will be working worldwide and travelling extensively. The only exception is the United States, our largest market. There, sales and marketing are handled by Aimpoint Inc, our American subsidiary. I will of course still spend a considerable amount of time there as well.
NDS: What is your goal in terms of what you want to achieve?
FJ: After more than 20 years in the Swedish Armed Forces, I want to find new ways to develop and deepen my expertise even further within my specialist area of shooting and weapons training. I want to learn about the defence industry and more broadly how things work in the private sector and within a well-functioning company. In the longer term, I naturally want to contribute to Aimpoint's continued development and to strengthening the company.
NDS: Why did you stay within the defence sector?
FJ: I have always appreciated the fact that we have such an extraordinarily prominent Swedish defence industry. I have always seen it as a great strength for our country, and regardless of whether I have handled equipment from Aimpoint, Spuhr, Saab, Bofors, Hägglunds, or other Swedish defence materiel, I have always felt a sense of confidence, both in the capability that the equipment has given me and my soldiers, and in the fact that it is us, a small country of 10 million people in the cold north, that has the ability and the will to produce equipment of this quality. That is quite unique. I have never understood why we should be ashamed of having this capability. On the contrary, I think we should be enormously proud of our defence industry. That is why it felt natural for me to continue within the defence industry. I see it as still playing for the same team, but in a different position on the pitch than before.
NDS has previously interviewed, among others, Johan Magnusson and Karin Swanson in this series. If you know someone who would be suitable for this interview series, or feel that you yourself would be a good fit, NDS can be reached at news@nordicdefencesector.com. Please mark the email "New in the job".