Week 26, 2025 was marked by several significant Swedish defence decisions, ranging from major materiel procurement and new NATO commitments to the inauguration of a national drone centre. Below is a comprehensive overview of the week's most important defence news.

Domains

Air

  • Swedish Armed Forces UAS Centre inaugurated in Karlsborg: The Swedish Armed Forces (Försvarsmakten) has inaugurated the Swedish Armed Forces UAS Centre at Livregementets husarer, K 3, in Karlsborg (central Sweden). The centre will coordinate training, development and evaluation of drone capability for the Army, Navy and Air Force. The Deputy Chief of the Air Force, Tommy Petersson, emphasised the many years of expertise now being formalised in a centre of excellence. The unit is already running three major projects focused on new unmanned aerial systems. Read more
  • Sweden joins NATO's Multinational MRTT Fleet: Defence Minister Pål Jonson signed the agreement making Sweden the eighth member nation of NATO's multinational fleet of air-to-air refuelling and transport aircraft, the Multinational MRTT Fleet (MMF). Denmark is joining simultaneously, expanding the cooperation to twelve Airbus A330 MRTT aircraft once two newly ordered examples are delivered in 2028 to 2029. Other members are Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, the Czech Republic and Germany. Read more
  • Swedish Defence Materiel Administration orders new equipment for Gripen E: The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has signed a supplementary contract with Saab for newly produced equipment for the Gripen E fighter aircraft. The deal is worth approximately 2.9 billion SEK and means that the entire Swedish order of 60 aircraft will be equipped primarily with newly manufactured materiel, rather than reused equipment from the Gripen C/D. According to FMV, this is the fourth time the proportion of reused materiel has been reduced since the original contract was signed in 2013. Read more

Land

  • Sweden orders the IRIS-T SLM air defence system: The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) has signed a contract for seven fire units of the medium-range air defence system IRIS-T SLM to strengthen air defence for the Army's brigades and Battle Group Gotland (the Swedish strategic island in the Baltic Sea). The contract is worth approximately 9 billion SEK, with deliveries planned to begin in 2028. The contract has been signed by the German procurement authority BAAINBw with the company Diehl on Sweden's behalf, within the framework of the European cooperation project ESSI (European Sky Shield Initiative). Read more

Policy & Strategy

  • Broad support for Swedish NATO force in Finland: Denmark, France, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom have announced that they will participate in the build-up of the Swedish-led force Forward Land Forces Finland (FLF Finland). The force is part of NATO's forward presence and aims to strengthen the Alliance's deterrence on the northern flank. Defence Minister Pål Jonson describes FLF Finland as an important part of NATO's overall deterrence and defence. Read more

Taken together, Week 26 demonstrates a broad spectrum of Swedish defence measures, from strategic NATO cooperation and multinational force build-ups to concrete materiel procurement in the areas of air defence, combat aircraft and unmanned systems.