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This Week's Defense News: Exercises, Agreements, and Strategic Initiatives

The week is marked by major military exercises, new artillery agreements in Norway, and strategic industrial collaborations.

This Week's Defense News: Exercises, Agreements, and Strategic Initiatives

The past week has been eventful in the defense sector with several significant developments. Here is a summary of the most important news.

Naval and Air Defense: In Finland, the large-scale air exercise Protective Fence 25 was conducted between September 22 and 26. The exercise gathered approximately 1,200 soldiers and 50 aircraft, including Swedish and Danish forces. The aim was to strengthen defense capabilities through air operations and dispersed deployment across large parts of Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia.

Land Defense: Norway has signed an agreement to purchase 24 new K9 Vidar artillery pieces from South Korean Hanwha Aerospace. This agreement, signed on September 19, aims to strengthen the artillery capacity of the Finnmark Brigade. With deliveries planned for 2027, Norway's total fleet of K9 Vidar will amount to 52 pieces. Read more

Industry: A new defense company, MITS Industries, has been established in Copenhagen by the Ukrainian-American investment group MITS Capital. The company brings together Ukrainian producers of drones and electronic warfare equipment and is expected to employ over 1,000 people. Read more

Håkan Buskhe, former CEO of Saab, has been appointed as the new chairman of SKF's automotive business. This comes as SKF prepares a separate listing of the business on Nasdaq Stockholm. Read more

Policy and Strategy: A new study from the Swedish Defence University and Uppsala University shows that a sense of national unity and cultural pride increases the willingness to defend in Sweden, while ethnic nationalism does not. The study is based on a survey of just over 2,000 Swedes and nearly 2,000 Danes. Read more

Freddy Jönsson, newly appointed member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences, reflects on the first ten years of the Total Defense Foundation and the challenges that remain. Read more

FAQ

Hur påverkar Protective Fence 25 Finlands försvarsförmåga?
Protective Fence 25 stärker Finlands försvarsförmåga genom omfattande luftoperationer. Övningen involverade 1 200 soldater och 50 flygplan från Finland, Sverige och Danmark. Målet var att förbättra luftförsvar och spridd gruppering. Senast faktagranskad: 2025-10-03.
Vad innebär Norges avtal om K9 Vidar artilleripjäser?
Norges avtal om K9 Vidar artilleripjäser syftar till att stärka artillerikapaciteten. Avtalet med Hanwha Aerospace omfattar 24 nya pjäser, vilket ökar Norges flotta till 52 enheter. Leveranserna är planerade till 2027. Senast faktagranskad: 2025-10-03.
Vilka är de strategiska målen för MITS Industries i Köpenhamn?
MITS Industries i Köpenhamn fokuserar på att samla ukrainska drönar- och telekrigsproducenter. Företaget förväntas sysselsätta över 1 000 personer och är ett initiativ av MITS Capital. Målet är att stärka försvarsindustrin i regionen. Senast faktagranskad: 2025-10-03.