I have read a few different takes in the last week. That this war shows how much an army needs to be able to fight a war of attrition if they want to fight Russia and that Sweden with its relatively small numbers heavy equipment might run into problems.
Europe
News/Interesting Stories/Beautiful Pictures from Europe 🇪🇺
(Current banner: Thunder mountain, Germany, 🇩🇪 ) Feel free to post submissions for banner pictures
Rules
(This list is obviously incomplete, but it will get expanded when necessary)
- Be nice to each other (e.g. No direct insults against each other);
- No racism, antisemitism, dehumanisation of minorities or glorification of National Socialism allowed;
- No posts linking to mis-information funded by foreign states or billionaires.
Also check out !yurop@lemm.ee
That has been an issue for many years now and will take many years to change. The previous supreme commander even stated that the armed forces could only sustain a limited operation for one week. That stated was highly controversial at the time for some reason. He was even investigated for treason by the police.
But now that they are part of NATO isn't it irrelevant?
Worst case we'll still need to hold our own until any reinforces would arrive so not really.
Usually the NATO countries have temporary and sometimes permanent deployments in other countries. So it is to expect that in the near future, there will be e.g. US, French, Italian troops stationed in Finland or Sweden for some combined exercise over a few months and in rotation with other NATO countries. After the Russian invasion in Ukraine, the US moved troops of the 101st airborne to Romania, close to the border to Ukraine.
Which is the super cool living proof of NATO article 5. If one would the start an attack on Romania or in the example on Finland or Sweden, he would also attack other countries' forces at the same time that are stationed there. So it's not just a combined defence because of some letters on a paper. The troops are already there and would get attacked as well.
NATO will probably make sure that Finland and Norway are supplied with enough material/manpower so that they are able to buffer against any eastern flank attacks.
Joining NATO comes with a certain commitment to maintaining levels of military spending. Depends on if they reach the GDP bar or not.
Good point
It's a good article, just a dumb headline.
I have a few catchy alternatives to offer: Sweden’s slam dunk military... Sweden’s AI powered military... Sweden’s mystery military power...
The article has lots of good information though regarding Sweden's leading edge military technology in multiple sectors, military structure & size and geopolitical opportunities for NATO with Russia's aggression in mind.
Finland in NATO is already a huge gain for the defence alliance. Sweden would as well lift NATO's abilities to new heights. Membership is not 100% guaranteed yet, just one step closer and a positive outlook in Turkey. Hungary already stated they would follow Turkey's position.