Swedish military to pump forces, money into mobile drone-defense units

MILAN – Sweden has allocated €1.4 billion ($1.6 billion) to establish multiple dispersed air defense units equipped with short-range air defense weapons to guard cities and critical infrastructure against aerial threats.

The announcement was made over the weekend during a presentation by the Swedish Minister of Defense, Pål Jonson, and follows a series of recent aerial intrusions across European strategic sites.

“The focus is on short-range air defense that can defend both civilian and military targets against cruise missiles and drones – the new territorial air defense needs to be simple and flexible, it should be possible to produce and maintain a number of units and to retrain soldiers who have been trained on other systems,” he said in a post on his X social media platform.

The plan entails several independent company-sized units that will be required to be mobile and modular to mix and match different weapons, including guns and radar systems. Assets requiring protection will include bridges, rail hubs, nuclear and hydroelectric power plants, as well as cities, according to a government press release.

Jonson stated that a first consolidated order will be placed with industry in the first quarter of this year, as the Swedish Armed Forces already conducted testing in 2025 of several systems “which can speed up the [adoption] process.”

Sweden was among a list of European countries to have reported airspace breaches late last year by unidentified drones. In the fall, an unidentified unmanned aerial vehicle was observed close to Sweden’s Karlskrona archipelago in proximity to an important naval base, and suspicious drone activity was also recorded near the Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport.

In a recent interview with Defense News, Henriette H. Thygesen, the CEO of Danish aerospace manufacturer Terma Group, said that recent incursions have highlighted the speed of detection as a crucial gap in countering drones.

“It is not enough to just detect anymore – you need to validate quickly that it’s actually a drone, reduce false alarms, and act with more speed and confidence, that’s where sensor fusion and disciplined workflows make a difference,” she said.

While the Swedish government hasn’t publicized specific rules of engagement for the new units, it is expected that they will have the authority and equipment to engage hostile drones, including shooting them down if necessary.

Several European countries have recently adopted new laws granting their armed forces’ or security forces powers to neutralize drones violating national airspace, including Lithuania and Germany.

Additionally, the Swedish Armed Forces and Civil Defense Agency have been tasked to provide proposals for both active and passive protective measures that will be compiled next month.

Elisabeth Gosselin-Malo was a Europe correspondent for Defense News. She covers a wide range of topics related to military procurement and international security, and specializes in reporting on the aviation sector. She is based in Milan, Italy.

米兰——瑞典已拨款 14 亿欧元（16 亿美元）用于建立多个分散的防空部队，这些部队配备短程防空武器，以保护城市和关键基础设施免受空中威胁。

该消息是在周末由瑞典国防部长帕尔·约翰逊在一次演讲中宣布的，此前欧洲战略要地发生了一系列空中入侵事件。

“重点是能够防御民用和军事目标免受巡航导弹和无人机袭击的短程防空系统——新的领土防空系统需要简单灵活，应该能够生产和维护多个单位，并重新培训接受过其他系统训练的士兵，”他在其社交媒体平台上发帖说。

该计划包括若干个独立的连级规模单位，这些单位必须具备机动性和模块化设计，以便灵活组合不同的武器装备，包括枪支和雷达系统。根据政府新闻稿，需要保护的目标包括桥梁、铁路枢纽、核电站和水电站，以及城市。

约翰逊表示，今年第一季度将向业界下达第一份综合订单，因为瑞典武装部队已经在 2025 年对几个系统进行了测试，“这可以加快（采用）过程”。

去年底，瑞典与其他一些欧洲国家一样，报告了不明无人机侵犯其领空的事件。去年秋天，一架不明无人机在瑞典卡尔斯克鲁纳群岛附近，靠近一处重要的海军基地附近出现；此外，哥德堡-兰德维特机场附近也记录到了可疑的无人机活动。

丹麦航空航天制造商泰尔玛集团首席执行官亨丽埃特·H·蒂格森在最近接受《防务新闻》采访时表示，最近的入侵事件凸显了探测速度是应对无人机的一个关键差距。

“仅仅检测到无人机已经不够了——你需要快速验证它是否真的是无人机，减少误报，并以更快的速度和更强的信心采取行动，这就是传感器融合和规范的工作流程发挥作用的地方，”她说。

虽然瑞典政府尚未公布新部队的具体交战规则，但预计他们将拥有与敌方无人机交战的权力和装备，包括在必要时将其击落。

包括立陶宛和德国在内的几个欧洲国家最近通过了新的法律，赋予其武装部队或安全部队权力，以摧毁侵犯国家空域的无人机。

此外，瑞典武装部队和民防局已被责成提出主动和被动防护措施的建议，这些建议将于下个月汇总。

伊丽莎白·戈斯林-马洛曾任《防务新闻》欧洲通讯员。她的报道涵盖军事采购和国际安全等广泛领域，尤其擅长航空领域的报道。她常驻意大利米兰。