The Swedish Armed Forces (Swedish: Försvarsmakten) is a Swedish Government Agency (Swedish: Myndighet) responsible for the operation of the armed forces of the Realm. The primary task of the agency is to train, organize and to deploy military forces, domestically and abroad, while maintaining the long-term ability to defend the Realm in the event of war. The Supreme Commander (Swedish: Överbefälhavaren), a four-star general or flag officer is also the head of said agency, and he is the highest ranking professional officer on active duty. The Supreme Commander in turn reports through the Minister for Defence to the Government of Sweden (Swedish: Regeringen).
There are three service branches: the Army (Swedish: Armén), the Air Force (Swedish: Flygvapnet) and the Navy (Swedish: Marinen), all of whom are since 1994 part of the same agency.
Sweden's military forces was for over a century built upon the concepts of conscription and territorial defence, supporting the longstanding national policy of non-alignment. Until the end of the Cold War nearly all men reaching the age of military service were conscripted. In summer 2010 peacetime conscription ceased, to be replaced with contracted personnel altogether. The transfer to the new system will be fully completed in 2018.
Units from the Swedish Armed Forces are currently on deployment in Afghanistan (ISAF) and Kosovo. Moreover, Sweden contributes with military observers in various countries and serve as the lead nation for an EU Battle Group approximately once every three years.
Read more about Swedish Armed Forces: Doctrine, Military Units, Other Government Agencies Reporting To The Ministry of Defence, Voluntary Defence Organizations
Famous quotes containing the words armed and/or forces:
“A woman’s beauty is a storm-tossed banner;
Under it wisdom stands, and I alone
Of all Arabia’s lovers I alone
Nor dazzled by the embroidery, nor lost
In the confusion of its night-dark folds,
Can hear the armed man speak.”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Is there something in trade that dessicates and flattens out, that turns men into dried leaves at the age of forty? Certainly there is. It is not due to trade but to intensity of self- seeking, combined with narrowness of occupation.... Business has destroyed the very knowledge in us of all other natural forces except business.”
—John Jay Chapman (1862–1933)