December 17, 2020 | International, Aerospace, Naval, Land, C4ISR, Security
By: The Associated Press
STOCKHOLM — Sweden's parliament on Tuesday approved a 40 percent increase in the defense budget for 2021-2025 because of tensions in the Baltic Sea region in recent years, with officials saying Russia is the main reason for the move.
The 349-member Riksdag assembly approved the largest hike in 70 years, bringing the annual defense budget by 2025 to 89 billion kronor (U.S. $11 billion).
Defence Minister Peter Hultquist told the assembly before the series of votes that “it is the largest investment since the 1950s.”
The proposal was put forward in October by Sweden's two-party Social Democrat-Green Party minority government, and it received immediate backing from two smaller opposition groups.
The government described it as sending a signal after Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, repeated airspace violations by Russian military aircraft in the neighboring Baltics and a military buildup in Russia's exclave of Kaliningrad, which sits across the Baltic Sea from Sweden.
“There is much to suggest that Russia's military capabilities in absolute terms will increase throughout the next 10-year period,” the adopted proposal read.
The plan will see the armed forces grow from the current 55,000 positions to 90,000 by 2030. Several disbanded regiments will be reestablished and the number of conscripts will increase to 8,000 annually, which is a doubling compared with 2019. The Navy will receive new equipment and there will be upgrades in armament.
Sweden currently spends 1.1 percent of gross domestic product on defense. Guidelines issued by NATO, of which Sweden isn't a member, advise that members spend 2 percent, although many do not achieve that target.
In December 2017, Sweden decided to establish the nation's first new military regiment since World War II — a unit of 350 soldiers based on the strategically important Baltic Sea island of Gotland.
In the same year, Sweden also introduced a selective military draft for men and women, having previously abolished a men-only draft in 2010.
July 22, 2024 | International, Aerospace
The new concept model on display in Hall 5 features a much more evolved design with a wingspan larger than previous concepts to improve the aerodynamics of the future combat...
December 19, 2018 | International, Land
By: Shawn Snow As a shooter on rifle range qualification day, have you ever seen your target come up crooked, barely hanging onto the stand, and wonder, “What the heck are the Marines doing in the rifle pits?” Pulling pits at the rifle range might be most Marines' least favorite task. It requires constantly raising and lowering targets just to see them fall off the rickety stands, and quickly patching them up with pasties to give the shooter a clean canvas ... just to watch them fall off again. It's a frustrating, tedious task. There's the fact you have to rely on another Marine in the pit to accurately score your shots — and that one-point difference between the marksmen pizza box badge and sharpshooter can save a a lot of scorn before the next chance to qualify. There's the shooter who probably missed the target entirely during the last course of fire, leaving the scorer staring at the target for an eternity, seeking a nonexistent shot hole. There's always the Marine who shoots on the wrong target — those must just be bonus points to help a buddy who is about to fail on the range. The Corps' entire rifle range qualification process is rife with human error and inefficiencies that can impact Marines' scores on the range. Well, the Corps finally is looking to remedy this. In a request for information posted on the government's business opportunities portal, the Corps is in the hunt for an automatic scoring system for its ranges. In the posting the Corps said that the purpose of the new scoring system is to “reduce the amount of labor necessary to conduct KD [known distance] training/qualification. By eliminating the need for target operators in the pits, the labor overhead associated with KD training is greatly reduced.” “During marksmanship training the KDAS [known distance automated scoring] will be required to accurately show the shooter where they hit the target, to provide feedback that will assist the shooter in developing their shooting skills," the RFI stated. And the Corps is looking for a complete system that will streamline the scoring process and ease the rifle range qualification process. According to the RFI, the Corps wants new scoring platform display systems for coaches and shooters. For marksman coaches on the range, a new display unit will allow the coach to view and track the shots of four shooter lanes at once. Shooters will have a display unit that will let them track their individual shot placement and score as well. A single control system will be able to communicate wirelessly and control up to 100 targets at once, according to the RFI. That means no more Marines in the pits manually pulling targets up and down. The new scoring system is intended to reduce “the amount of time shooters need to spend on the range, freeing them up to perform other work,” the RFI reads. So maybe the days of showing up to the range at dawn also are coming to an end? Responses to the Corps' request for information regarding the new scoring system are due by Jan 11. https://www.marinecorpstimes.com/news/your-marine-corps/2018/12/18/are-the-days-of-pulling-pits-at-the-rifle-range-coming-to-an-end
May 19, 2021 | International, Land
Oshkosh Defense's experience making rugged military vehicles makes the company well-suited to craft a long-lasting mail delivery vehicle, according to the company president.