Civil aviation infrastructure in western Sweden is of strategic importance both for Sweden's total defence and the country's NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) commitments. This is according to a new report from the Swedish Agency for Total Defence Analysis (MTFA), which also points out that the state has limited means to influence closures of privately or municipally owned airports.
A new report from MTFA analyses the consequences that a phase-out or downsizing of civil aviation infrastructure in western Sweden could have for total defence. The report finds that airports and other aviation infrastructure are strategically important for the defence of Sweden, support for allies, and the fulfilment of Sweden's commitments within NATO.
According to MTFA, reduced airport capacity could have negative consequences both nationally and regionally. The agency also emphasises that the state has limited means to influence changes to airports it does not own, even though restoring decommissioned infrastructure can be both costly and time-consuming.
"It is important that the authorities that make decisions on changes to aviation infrastructure have procedures in place to cooperate so that the interests of total defence are safeguarded. It is also important that decision-makers, both at national and regional level, can obtain a comprehensive picture of total defence's need for aviation infrastructure in order to make well-balanced decisions," says Martin Talvik, analyst at MTFA, in a press release from the agency.
The report also points out that the Swedish Armed Forces have made more progress than the civil defence sector in identifying their needs for aviation infrastructure. MTFA therefore assesses that the preparedness agencies should prioritise mapping the civil defence sector's needs, since there is currently no comprehensive picture of total defence's need for aviation infrastructure.
Säve Airport, near Gothenburg (western Sweden), is used as a case study, where MTFA notes that the area continues to play an important role for total defence even after its conversion to a helicopter airport. The report also highlights that this change illustrates the complexity of the trade-offs involved when civil aviation infrastructure is altered, and that airports can also be important as staging and transhipment sites, as well as for the future expansion of the Swedish Armed Forces.