The Quest for Relevant Air Power

Chapter 6
Swedish Air Force (Flygvapnet)
In June 1925, the separate Army and Navy air corps were unified
in an independent air force, the then Royal Swedish Air
Force. 1 Despite its early birth, the Swedish Air Force could only
muster slightly more than 100 operational aircraft at the dawn of
World War II. Due to lack of spare parts from the United Kingdom,
a large number of fighters were grounded. 2 This deplorable
situation was a wake-up call and resulted in an intensive rearmament
process. At the end of the war, the Air Force had more than
800 aircraft at its disposal. The domestic aircraft industry continued
to deliver new aircraft after the war, resulting in the SwAF becoming
the fourth largest air force in the Western world, operating
some 1,000 aircraft. 3
The 1958 long-term Defence Act put a clear emphasis upon air
power in the Swedish overall defence posture. As a consequence,
the Navy had to absorb significant budget cuts at the hands of the
SwAF. 4 The naval budget shrank from 18 to 13 per cent of the total
defence budget, as combat aircraft were considered to be more
versatile and less vulnerable than surface ships. 5
The Swedish defence rationale of the late 1950s considered the
national territory of secondary priority for potential enemies. 6 It
was assumed that no major power would and could allocate major
defence resources for an attack against Sweden and, therefore, that
a potent Swedish defence would have a sufficient deterrent effect.
The Swedish armed forces were geared up towards a multilayered
anti-invasion defence, which aimed at striking a potential aggressor
outside Swedish territory. 7 This was primarily the task of the
SwAF and the submarine fleet. The main task of the Army was to
defend the land border with Finland as well as southern Sweden. 8
During the 1950s, the acquisition of nuclear weapons for the
Swedish armed forces was also debated but never realised. With
the signature of the Non-Proliferation Treaty in 1968, this debate
came to an end. 9
Whereas Swedish defence doctrine concentrated exclusively
upon defence against full-scale invasion in the early periods of the