Swedish Defence Matériel Agency (Försvarets materielverk, FMV) has now received the first deliveries to Sweden’s new air defense system. Tools and test equipment are in place for batch packing, power plants and vehicles are next in line. The Swedish government announced its decision to buy Patriot in November 2017 after evaluating it against the French consortium Eurosam’s SAMP/T. After months of preparations, such as basic training and procurement work for, among other things, vehicles and maintenance concepts, the first components of the Air Defense System 103, Patriot, are beginning to arrive. These are tools and test equipment that have come from the USA and that are to be batch packed in different containers. This equipment will be used in connection with the verification work of the first Swedish air defense system unit, which will be carried out next year.
These are tools and test equipment that have come from the U.S. and are to be packed in batches in different containers. This equipment will be used in connection with the verification work of the first Swedish air defense system unit, which will be carried out next year. Before Sweden have more containers manufactured for the Swedish Armed Forces. In addition to the handover of tools and test equipment that has taken place, representatives from the U.S. Army have been in Halmstad to prepare the technical verification. They stated that the conditions for the tests they are to perform are very good, and do not anticipate any problems with the tests next year. The technical verification will be more extensive than usual due to Sweden being the first country to receive the latest software configuration.
Although it is not a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member, Sweden has close ties to the alliance and has been beefing up its armed forces after decades of neglect amid increased anxiety over Russia’s actions in Ukraine and Crimea. Sweden, whose existing air defense system cannot shoot down ballistic missiles. The Government of Sweden has requested to buy four (4) Patriot Configuration-3+ Modernized Fire Units consisting of: four (4) AN/MPQ-65 radar sets, four (4) AN/MSQ-132 engagement control stations, nine (9) antenna mast groups, twelve (12) M903 launching stations, one hundred (100) Patriot MIM-104E Guidance Enhanced Missile-TBM (GEM-T) missiles, two hundred (200) Patriot Advanced Capabilty-3 (PAC-3) Missile Segment Enhancement (MSE) missiles, and four (4) Electrical Power Plants (EPP) III.
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target” which is a backronym for PATRIOT. PAC-3 is one of the missiles used by Configuration 3+, but as Patriot is an entire system, not just a missile, the Config 3+ enhancements involve a whole suite of upgrades and capabilities. So far, 15 other countries have purchased Patriot, including NATO members Germany, the Netherlands, Romania and Poland, while neutral Switzerland has said it is considering Patriot among other systems.