Norway and Sweden boost military spending again to counter Russia

Military personnel operate near the border between Finland, Norway and Sweden during exercise Cold Response in March 2024. Participants from Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and United States took park. Norway and Sweden have increased defense spending significantly since Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. AFP/GETTY IMAGES

THE WATCH STAFF

Norway and Sweden announced another set of large defense spending increases in October 2024, signaling a deep commitment to defending NATO’s northern flank. The increased money for advanced weaponry and additional troops, both countries said, will help them deter any Russian threat.

Norwegian Finance Minister Trygve Slagsvold Vedum identified Russia as the reason for the spending increase during his presentation of the government’s 2025 budget. “The paradox with the defence budget is that we hope it will be wasted money,” Vedum said, according to Norwegian newspaper The Barents Observer. “Like when you pay insurance for your house, you do not hope that it will burn down, you hope that it is ‘wasted money.’ Similarly, the very aim with the defence budget is to have sufficiently strong-armed forces so that Russia never will push around with us.”

Norway has increased its defense budget by 70% since 2021, the newspaper reported. The NATO charter member now spends more than 2% of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense, which is a goal agreed upon by its 32 members. “It is a huge injection of resources in the armed forces,” Vedum said. Much of the money will be spent on ammunition and housing for the growing ranks. Norway will also buy more F-35 warplanes, submarines, maritime helicopters and maritime sensors and surveillance systems, according to the newspaper.

Meanwhile, neighboring Sweden also announced large investments in its military, vowing to increase its armed forces to 115,000 by 2030, according to Reuters. The Nordic country, which pursued a Cold War policy of nonalignment with Russia and the U.S., joined NATO in 2024. The new spending will boost Swedish defense spending to 2.6% of GDP in 2028, up from 2.2% this year. “We must be able to respond more strongly and effectively to the changes taking place in our surrounding world, above all Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine,” said Defence Minister Pål Jonson, the wire service reported.

Along with an increase in conscription and recruitment to add 27,000 to the armed forces, the government is also spending large sums on all service branches. The Navy will upgrade its five Visby-class corvettes with air defense systems and will also purchase three bigger Lulea-class corvettes. The Air Force will receive three more Globaleye surveillance planes and the latest iteration of the JAS Gripen fighter jets, as well as Black Hawk helicopters. The Army will add more tanks and armored vehicles, more drones and additional Archer air-defense systems, Reuters reported. “The civil defence will be built up based on the demands of war, and we aim to swiftly build up capabilities that strengthen Sweden and make our country more secure,” Minister for Civil Defence Carl-Oskar Bohlin said in a Ministry of Defence news release.

Norway and Sweden, along with fellow NATO members Denmark and Finland, have taken significant steps toward integrating their armed forces, increasing interoperability and the region’s value to NATO.

“NATO enlargement in the north has created a range of opportunities across branches, regions, and sectors. The potential to find solutions that increase NATO’s overall military capacity is huge. Therefore, more Nordic defense cooperation and integration is likely, both within a NATO framework and in close tandem with major allies,” concluded an October 2024 report from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

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