Gripen: What we must learn from Sweden 

I'm a Swede and have lived in Scotland for over 20 years and the Swedish mentality is exactly as what is done in the military. If you encounter a problem a Swede will try to solve the problem there and then. In the UK it's like, no, I can't do that as we need to ask our superior or teamleader for that. Same goes for work environment.

Yes sir, that is the way it should be...

Thank you Jonas. I was in the US Air Force and with one little bomb our whole squadron would be taken out. That was in the 1980s. Now it is super more vulnerable with drones and maneuverable hypersonic missiles Dispersal is the only way to have a chance to survive and to be able to fight also. For my entire life I have been disappointed that no other Western powers are doing white the Swedish have always been doing since World War II ended. I know it’s not nice to say, but I’m going to say it anyway. You probably wouldn’t believe how stupid the higher level Officer core is in the US Air Force and the US military in general. They are career oriented and dogmatic. Very hard to find a Jimmy Dolittle or Billy Mitchell anymore. So sad to say.

@@steveperreira5850 Well in Finland we have a similar mode of operations to Sweden, and also the mentality is about what has been described here as well.

Better to do something every time on the incomplete data at hand and risk mistakes than to waste a single opportunity of causing decisive damage to the enemy and endanger other friendly units by inaction.

Built in redundancy, add certain plastics to tarmac and the life of a road surface increases by many years, proven in INDIA. Why not in worldwide use, well if a road surface did not have to be resurfaced every few years then money would not flow to those building in the present failure rate of roads to make ridiculous profits, My road, a residential road, is treated every 5 years, there should be no need for this but cold winters help small cracks develop into potholes and need fixing. The quality of road infrastructure is really pathetic and should have been improved decades ago with the technological know-how we have had. The government should really get a handle on this and save themselves a ton of money, if local maintenance is not up to the job threaten to bring in outside maintenance, pay Indian crews to recover roads and get a 25-year guarantee of a limited amount of repairs needed compared to what is common now.

Or double parked

As an American, I second that!

only on the right sides of a road in Sweden

Not anymore unfortunately. Turns out tax and progressive tax is crucial for function in society.

​@@phillipbanes5484and perhaps a large part of these American pieces are Korean or Taiwanese

Average american thinking the world must be grateful for its existance

​​​@@phillipbanes5484 ​​​​​​​​​​That's the type of comment that destroys the US's reputation around the world. Saab's partnership is with Brazilian company Embraer, you know, the third largest civil aircraft manufacturer in the world. The Brazilian production line was established on May 2023. No reason to get into the minutiae of transnational commerce just because you want to feel good about technology the US developed while it fomented coups by corrupt dictators who closed down universities and research centers in democracies like Brazil and 13 other countries during the Cold War.

why are u so insecure? haha thats sad@@phillipbanes5484

Only the engine :/​@@phillipbanes5484

As a Swede that has worked with a multitude of international teams I totally agree!! A recepie for a total disaster is taking a lets say east Asian projectmanager style used to micromanage everything in order to get things done and put them in charge of a highly trained and skilled work force made up by Swedes. Total culture clash! But on the other hand a Swedish management style of collective desicionmaking and extreme trust that everyone do what the are supposed to after their best ability is a total disaster as well in a culture where the workers are used to micromanaging management, because the Swedish style will not see anything done, like at all. And that also comes down to risk managment and how failure is handled - just as is mentioned ib this video.

I went to a lecture years ago about different cultures of project management . The Swedish culture was identified as most productive.

​@@bsastarfire250👍 Actually, I'm not surprised. I've seen videos about how Swedish pilots have taken initiatives against "foreign aircrafts" (you know from where), just turned as they have told the superior and asked how to act when they reached that other aircraft. This is in a low micro environment, but I used to work for SJ, the Swedish State Railways, at the train service facilities just outside of Stockholm. In the late seventies there still was a little bit of the old "military thinking", a superior was a superior, and should be talked to, if there were any abnormalities, like late incoming trains etc, which it was all the time. Ten years later the working teams could discuss between each other how the best way to proceed, to change the order of which train what kind of job which team should work on to make it work out the fastest and smoothest way for everyone. The only thing of importance was that the job was done before departure time back to Stockholm Centralstation and in traffic again. An enormous change. There could be minor disputes between different teams with different tasks, but never anything serious. It just took some more creative thinking and perhaps replanning of the schedule for one or two teams, no big deal, just the work was done in time, or as close to as possible. No "interference" of the superiors for the different teams, we only told them how long they could expect to get it done, so they knew what to tell Stockholm Centralstation. That saved A LOT of time, I estimate between 15 minutes and up to an hour, and happier, at least less annoyed, travelers. Instead of 4 superiors making one decision each, that collide with at least one other, and they had to discuss, their decision made a catastrophe to another... And the personnel were just waiting, and couldn't start with something else, if they were ordered to go on the delayed train first... I, one of all the people who worked at SJ back then know why the trains were more often delayed than in time. Internal bureaucracy.

As an employee in Sweden, you are tested before employment with the aim of competence and initiative, taking responsibility. Therefore, it is assumed that you are able to achieve the goals that you have agreed with your manager. How you carry it out is up to your own ability to carry out the task to reach the goal. You are evaluated and rewarded/punished according to degree of goal fulfillment. Decentralized decision-making that suits us Swedes.

I am Swiss but lived in Sweden for several years, the work culture is kind similar, meaning that the opinion of the person on the ground floor actually counts. Live currently in the US where 80% the of the "workforce" consists of lazy morons with no education. Especially US males have more in common with monkeys than home sapiens.

When this war started I was at once convinced that Ukraine should get 30-40 Gripen, as I knew about the characteristics of Gripen from CZ (I lived there for longer time). Also we Germans should have 50-100 Gripens, which is easier to handle and more flexible than Eurofighter.

Sounds like exciting times well spent.! Thank you for sharing with us...

Until the 1980s, parts of the German Autobahn could be used in this manner. These emergency runways could even handle large transport planes. I am not sure if they could be easily reactivated today.

Excellent Storyline. I think a fifth grader can figure all this stuff out, but somehow the top brass of the US military is dumbfounded. These guys are a disgrace to the human race

@@kralikkral5560 The Typhoon outperforms the Gripen in every relevant metric for Germany.

I cant confirm this , but I heard the swedes wanted redundacy as if you lose 1 screen , you can still operate. To which the brazilians pointed out , that the quailty of the screens and testing of them will prevent any such event from occuring , and also if the enemy would somehow take it out in action , odds are that the pilot already had a "major emotional event". Finally the swedish pilots input was that larger screen massivly helped , this should come as no surprise to gamers or people who work with multiple screens. So thank you Brazil :)

That is why SAAB is so willing to transfer technology to other competent air industries, the competence there will give will give valuable feedback making all involved stronger :)

You!re wrong. Gripen E are built in Sweden, dubbleseater type Gripen F are partly put together in Brazil. All SAAB Gripen for Swedish Airforce are made in Sweden.

@@dragononwall8733 Wat? I might be missing something here but, uh... The OP is specifically talking about the wide display in the Gripen E's cockpit, not the whole airplane.

I'll never understand how the random fact that somebody was born in the same country where some other people who he never met or had contact with did something of questionable importance can be the basis to provide him the right to feel proud. For what are you particularly prideful? For bearing the same nationality or passport? What is your achievement in this?

@Mikael Wallin no l didn't know about the nlaw Bofors, I was referring to the Bofors cannon used during ww2, and also manufactured in America.

@@keithgarland3404 Yeah, the 40 mm Bofors was used by most countries during WW2. It was the second most used AA gun during the war (after the 20 mm Oerlikon), and an upgraded version is still used in some places today.

Archer? CV90?

Excalibur artillery round CV90 Carl Gustaf recoilless rifle RB15 anti ship missile NLAW The fighter data link for the JA37 Viggen was the first real time fighter link in the world. Not until the F22 came online was there anything comparable

Truly, Sweden doesn't need NATO. NATO needs Sweden.

Why

The decision making structure seemed painfully slow, and lacked initiative. It was as if they weren't training to fight at all. Recently we have seen some evidence that NATO trained foreign troops rapidly abandoned this structure. @@quasar6235

@@quasar6235he’s got a bad inferiority complex, typical Swedish problem tbh

Who trained you to do this?

And the Czech have always been crafty people. And they have operated aircrafts that could handle rough contitions during the Soviet times. It wasn't to hard to get to grips with I guess :)

Got bullied into buying f-35s...

@@jonasgroundstroem1064 We've been doing that since the 1950s...

@@dash9655 - F35 has a different role than a Grippen, there is a need for both in modern warfare.

Actually one of the things that has stood Ukraine in good stead is the excellent co-ordination between combat units, something which Russia has sorely lacked.

I have been recently been posting about this type dispurst tactics promoting the Gripen STOL advantage. I still have to review the comments here in order to not repeat what been stated already. My initial comment is the audience for Gripen should not be limited to NATO. The countries in NATO have funds and industries to choose as the please. More later ...

When i went to fight in Ukraine, its very apparent that Swedish military is a different beast. No one else is rather have by my side.

@@hb1338 The ratio was 7:1 before you wrote this, at a time when the Russians were outnumbered. That was according to the Pentagon in February. Now it's much worse obviously. These channels are trash. This one wastes time hooking people with rhetoric and pose.

@@aachoocrony5754 What are you talking about here?

My windsurf and innebandy skills will stand strong against the russki!

My most comfortable clothes are my hunting outfits. We basically hunt all year round in forests and in the archipelago. My class 1 hunting rifle is in cal. .308win and may just as well be fed 7,62 NATO rounds. I have served in the Swedish Army in recon and still have my Russian Parlor (with all grades from private to General, with simple phrases, tactics etc).

😄@@niclaskarlin

@@niclaskarlinseeing the state of the Russian army that might actually be true.

I totally agree with you. I am Russian that have been living in the West for a long time. I served in Soviet Army a long time ago and I saw what was happening in Russian Army after 1991 as well. And in both USSR and Russian Federation 99% of conscripts were just a cattle. I was not exception. I am very smart, physically fit with god shooting skills. Do you know who was allocated to sargent positions ? Clinical idiots but which happened to be 190cm tall weighing 90kg with one skill they had to confront and suppress their own privates in barracks. You can imagine how "efficient" they would be in the battlefield. Look at war in Ukraine. They haven't came accross any single NATO soldier but they have effectively lost the war.

A reason Swedish conscripts can meet such high standards is conscription model itself. Conscription gives a wide pool of manpower to pull from. If every male and an increasing number of females have passed the conscription evaluation, you can fill posts with people qualified for the position they are to fill. We also use civilian skills in the military. I did a rehearsal with a military field hospital, and discovered that civilian nurses, doctors, and dentists were drafted to work in this exercise. This was not optional for them, it was a draft. Another example is Swedish UN expeditionary forces. Because Swedish soldiers are conscripts, they have a civilian profession and skills. One result of this is than a Swedish expeditionary force always has professional chefs. :) In many UN operations skills such as electrician and plumber are crucial, not only for the operation of the military base, but also to liaison with civilians in the area. Restoring electricity and water supply to a village you are guarding goes a long way towards building trust.

Yes, but there is actually a study that we did here in Sweden that shows that conscripts actually are even better! The reason why is because they are not there to gain money like a mercenary or to rob, kill, rape and torture people. But this is if you are defending your own homeland, like the Ukrainians are. Wagner or the russian army is not as motivated because non of them are defending their homeland. Wagner is there for the money, so they are not fully motivated. The russian army is there to carry out theft, rape, torture and genocide of the ukranians and even that is not as motivating compared to protecting your own homleand, your family and your loved ones. There is nothing more motivating for a human beeing than survival instict, and that will be at it's peek when defending your own homeland and life.

@@andreypetrov4868 Hello ex-russian citizen! A swede here! I have a question for you that you can anwer better than me. I'm just speculating, but my understanding is that most russians actually support Putin because they really believe the russian propaganda. They have been brainwashed for generations. Or else Putin wouldn't be able to have so much power as he currently got. That's my thinking. To me I would assume that most russians, the majority of them believe all the propaganda, that the west is evil, that they want to destroy Russia, etc. In your assessment, how many would you say support Putin? Because it must be over 50% of the people, right? Is it like 70% of russians that support him? What's your own guess? And it also seems to be more support among the older generation, while the younger generation is more inline with the west. They have Facebook, TikTok, they have western friends, etc. They regularly use the internet and seems to see through all the lies and propaganda. I think this could be what turns Russia around. What do you think about the younger generation? Is it true that they don't support Putin as much?

Swedes military is woke trash and advertises on television for vvomen, discriminates men who suit the roll the best.

I thought Sweden stopped conscription?

@@Simsydav You are correct , the politicans decided that the eternal peace was upon ous , until Russia invaded Crimea , conscription is back on the meny.

@@Simsydav Only for a few years. It was put on hold in 2010, but returned on a small scale in 2014, and since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine the ammount of conscripts trained yearly scalling up rapidly.

@@RaXXha What about the Swedish Bikini team? Big fan from way back. They all had killer bomb 💣 bombs.

@@heywoodjablowme8120 That had nothing to do with Sweden, it was a bunch of american and canadian models with made up "swedish sounding" names. xD

and places like taiwan, Japan, Korea, Finland, Poland, the baltics, Ukraine, the philippines, vietnam etc. All countries that are bordering a big power should excpect that in the start of war. No matter what your air defence is capable of, a decent chunk of ballistic missiles and other types will slip through in the first strike.

Yes, the Grippen is the plane that Ukraine needs. The problem is not enough available at this time. When Ukraine wins this war, they should make a deal with Sweden (much as Brazil has done) to build them in Ukraine.

As time has gone on, Russia was not Sweden's enemy. Washington is your mortal enemy and always has been. The camouflage has come off and people are still having trouble taking in the fullness of depravity, sadism, and degeneracy that Washington embodies.

Turns out Russian long range fires with SSM and ASM weapons don't do well against US/NATO IADS. Sweden built their military based on the assumption the Russians are a competent military power.

@@LRRPFco52 we didn't have US/NATO IADS at the time

Top examples of small populations with top-notch education levels. I agree.

Or simply a Swedish-model conscripted Home Guard with Grippen in the air, coastal patrol submarine squadrons (four squadrons, I think), and a security-aware ground force that is absolutely *loaded* with air-defense batteries and lorry-borne leg infantry. Oh, keep up the top-notch coastal patrol vessels and crews! Leave the Typhoons, Challengers, and long-endurance nuclear submarines to the "professionals." Small "Liberty" or "Jeep" carriers are harder to find and damn handy for Search-And-Rescue, as well as Anti-Submarine Warfare. Something with one or two submarine-size nuclear power plants, to reduce overall bunkerage costs, but breeder reactors to reduce reactor refueling and maintenance to *nothing.*

I miss their cars though.

@@jamjardj1974 It was a crying shame. GM just eviscerated SAAB like the aliens in Independence Day. The 900 convertible was a thing of beauty.

@@johnearle1 GM? Like they did with Holden in Australia? And now Saab is Chinese-owned, which has its own set of implications. Which is more problematic? Probably both, in different ways. Let's stop being so politically correct and globalistic.

@@jamjardj1974 We all do. But they didn't want to be owned by China and I can understand that considering the other operations of the mother company. One thing I liked was how GM told them to do something and they just didn't. No, we're not going to make a shitty car that won't last five years in our climate... That's some balls when your career depends on it.

@@michaelmay5453 One of the best examples of sticking to your convictions. There was an American driver who put a million miles on a SAAB 900 and brought it to his dealer who gave him a 9-3 and sent his car to the SAAB museum.

The Canadian CF-104 pilots used to do that in Germany. They were manned cruise missiles before the cruise missiles were deployed to replace them.

During the Cold War, about 550 Swedish fighter pilots died due to the doctrine to fly under war like conditions. Flying fast and low over both land and sea. They knew that they would have to be good as they and the Navy would be the ones first hit and needed to keep the Soviets invaders of for 3 days until the mobilization was complete and all ground troops where geared up and deployed. After 3 days they probably would all been killed. We all knew what lie ahead if the shit hit the fan, but the pilots paid the price in peacetime. Mad respect for our fighter pilots!

I remember my dad saying the same thing he was a kustjägare.

@@Hiznogood Doctrine was far from the only thing responsible for those deaths though. Yes it killed many pilots, but J29 "flygande tunnan" killed about 200 of those pilots, mainly due to technical issues (though not uncommon in early jet aircraft), but at the time it was seen as an acceptable cost of creating a larger air force. Fortunatly the technical reliability increased and the acceptance of such death tolls were reduced, to a current air force that only rarely have any deaths at all.

@@Sam_Guevenne The attack divers were the best of the best, part of the Kustjägar units.

Our moral is being destroyed by destroying our culture and pride of our nation.

I don’t know who if you live in Sweden or you make assumptions because Sweden has been a hell hole for the past 15 years full of gang violence and crime thanks to the bad handled immigration. We are at a point we’re I am literally the only Swedish kid in my own class in my own country how stupid is that.

This is the exact reason that i volounteered for Ukraine. Im going for a second tour shortly. People need to realise the dangers of communism, socialism and islam.

It has been occupied, just not in a long time. Sweden as we know it was forged in the war of liberation against the Danes in 1600s. DanskJÄVLAR! (Mostly joking, that was a very long time ago, and the Danes are essentially more family than neighbors).

Americans make the sales by hiring a lot of officers from foreign airforces: the Canadian contract went because the former chief of the defense staff (an air force general) was hired as a consultant by Lockheed. As was a Canadian colonel to be a test pilot. You just KNOW that there were no Americans who could have filled those posts. So, when the time came to make a decision, those two officers were used to lobby Canadian politicians, none of whom know the first thing about the military in general or aircraft in particular.

Cynicism is useful for explaining some facet of why the F-35 dominates sales, but let's not pretend like Gripen fulfills the same niche as F-35. This isn't the difference between a Honda or a Toyota. The capabilities offered by the F-35 to European nations and Canada are simply distinct

@@RatherCrunchyMuffin We can't afford to fly them, so we won't. It's a hangar Queen. (The Gripon flight time is, last time I checked, costed at about $8000 Cdn an hour. The F-35 is over 50 and that pig will end up costing over a billion dollars a plane for the projected life of the plane - which also won't be met.) the problems are still not fixed (necessary maintenance has gone up, not down. The Gripon has a 10 minute turn around. Go on, give me the time for the F-35.) and as the clip said that the F-35 was better for long range strikes, I have to ask why? The Gripon E has a slightly greater range and with smart weapons you no longer need to be able to carry 20 tons of ordinance. Even with the F-18 we can't afford the number of pilots needed... and yes, an experienced pilot is better than one who hasn't flown that much, while a plane that is in pieces in a climate controlled hangar . Traditionally, Americans have always said "Let's find out what our system can do, and make that the test that 'proves' its superiority." Thus Divads became the Sergeant York Helicopter gun because choppers don't dive on their target. They were darned if they were going to buy geopards - which are performing so well in Ukraine - but couldn't stop it from tracking its target and firing into the ground. The Sheridan tank kept killing its crews, among other problems... and yes, I was actually issued with an M-16: a piece of s*** when compared to our incredibly reliable Galils. But you are right, it's not comparing a Honda to a Toyota. It's comparing a Toyota (mine has 340,000 km and no major repairs) to some piece of Detroit iron that loses it's entire drive train at 70k. (Or in my neighbour's case, his Dodge pickup, which just required a new diesel engine, and even with him doing the work, it cost him as much as my entire 2007 Toyota did). Nobody has yet explained to me how we know what the F-35s capabilities are... or what we will require in say 20 years. An inexpensive but reliable platform for which we can afford new weapons systems is better than something that we can't.

@@RatherCrunchyMuffin Oh, yeah: and the F-35 can't turn or dogfight, is visible to long wave radar, so it really isn't stealth, and what do you do when the carbon skin starts breaking up?

@@RatherCrunchyMuffin Lets talk about reality, shall we? In the last 2 weeks, when Biden was in the Bay area (Oakland) and civil aviation was accordingly shut down, an F-35 was sent up to investigate and intimidate a single engine propeller driven private plane. Does anyone want to claim that there were no alternatives? Like the California Air National guard with its F-16s doesn't exist? As with the U.S.A., most if not all the "missions" that countries like Canada will send the F-35 on can be done with just about ANY aircraft... and the Gripon E has a higher non-afterburner speed, a greater range, is more maneuverable, can handle just about any short strip available, including highways, and can be updated almost at will... as well as being one bleep of a lot cheaper to fly, maintain, and purchase. Since our prime minister has stated that there is no way on God's Green Earth that Canada is ever going to spend the Nato required 2% on defense, it is safe to say that neither he nor anyone in the defense establishment anticipates a war. So why should we buy an aircraft about which we are open about saying that we will never need the claimed superiority of long range strikes and stealth? I repeat: they do not anticipate a war, so why pretend that there is something that the F-35 can do better if it will never be done?

Does it hurt is that the newest aircraft are so expensive to maintain? I think it does. Is it true that F-35 can be jammed electronically?

I always thought Viggen would be perfect as a cactus Air Force plane for the USMC

Amercian weapons are first class but some just are not suitable. For instance the F-16 can not be expects to operate of Runways in Ukraine. The F-16 is almost useless since it needs clean first class full length runways. The Grippen or STOVL F-35B might work but not much else. Runways withing range of Iskander and Kinzahl will soon be cratered.

@@williamzk9083 How about 20x A-10's and 15 Grippens? It seems the Ukrainians are anxious to get all of NATO armaments but it strikes of hasty hunger.

I agree that America is unlikely to change. As an American, I think this is a mistake, but as was once famously stated, we tend to prepare to fight the last war, not the next war.

to be fair, Peter Linden has more than one screw loose ... Did my conscription on the Gripen A/B on F7 when he was a pilot there... One funny thing is that pilots take a bicycle to the plane from the briefing room. Look hilarious when 5 pilots in full gear ride to the planes in a neat little row, helmets on.

@@GeezRvonFart I have never met Linden,- but I guess he is "something special". Probably a very high level of reflexes, "timing" and coordination,- as the highest level road racers are very special too. They do stuff impossible to normal people.

From what I've heard, Sweden is suffering from underpaying their pilots and since the 90's flight hours have been reduced. Also, the "war time flight training" has been changed for safety reasons. Hope the skill of the pilots haven't been affected too much!

​​@@backisgabbeYT The "war time flight training" was changed because of a well thought through calculation of risks and outcome. When both planes and pilots where much more abundant it was deemed affordable to lose 10 to 20 pilots per year, and maybe double that in planes. When the Swedish Airforce was at its largest it had approximately 1000 (one thousand) planes, and the procurement rate was WAY higher than today. So losing, say, 30 per year would was "okay". The peacetime loss of pilots all those pilots where of-course a tragedy. Today, the number of planes in the Swedish Airforce is maybe a tenth of that. And the investment in training a pilot is much larger. The Swedish Airforce did the assessment of risk and consequences of outcome and concluded that the cost of training like it did was no longer acceptable. And I really hope they also weighed in the tragedies of losing pilots. At the Airforce headquarters in Stockholm there is a wall of remembrance with the names of all pilots that perished. There's roughly 500 (five hundred) names. No names have been added for a long time. A total of 5 Gripens have been lost over 30 years or so (including two prototypes / test planes). No pilots perished. Swedish Airforce pilots still fly fast and low. But the limits have been nudged so that they now survive peacetime service. And the planes are fliwn to their lifetime limit. Anything else would be unacceptable. For the pilots and their families. For the airforce. For the Swedish taxpayers. In that order.

@davebowman6497 indeed, the Swedish flight manual is written in blood as they say.

miliatry is anothe buracracy its role is to be busy do big pr and get paid just like every institution

Thank you for your fathers contribution to our safety and for making us proud to be Swedes.

*And THAT is another area where many other militaries could learn much from the Swedes* You only want willing, competent folk doing critically important tasks. Unfortunately, the mindset of many senior Officers elsewhere seems to be 'By Jingo we'll make them obey' 🙄 But then, those are the rubbish senior officers you don't want anywhere near the real action.

@@Farweasel It’s very interesting to hear my father talk of ”the good old days” during the cold war. It was very real, he had a pistol at home to protect us because he was considered key personel and a target of soviet assasins!

Blokira

That is not the UK model, if someone is not up to the task they are left to do badly and cover it up so the higher-ups do not complain about the turnover of staff.

Laughs in F-22

I agree. It took a while but I knew the F15 was a cut above the rest. I wanted to believe it was F22 and I always gravitate towards this gripen

@nick21614 The F22 is an incredible machine, but it has shortcomings, rang, cost of operation, and load out. Also, the cost to refresh. I don't think they'll refresh it.

Try to find the Grumman F-29. The disgraceful decisions Congress made had results so horrible that the United States Air Force started its own F-29 program to bury the fact that the Grumman internally-designed, built on spec, fighter, ever existed. Still unequalled to this day from about 1992.

@@davidgoodnow269 that's the one with the wings pointed forward, not mentioning other really relevant aspects of it, isn't it? I'll try to work out some research, but I'm pretty sure is that plane. What a pity it was to abandon such a promising project...

And yet almost no one wants it

@@aliceberethart except in the late 1990ies and early 2000s when our politicians kidney punched the entire costal artillery branch out of existance, gutted strategic air defence, engineers, logistics, signals and artillery down to a single regiment each, gutted the navy down to two bases, got rid of all of the sea knight heavy transport helis, all but one of the field hospitals and destroyed or sold off all of the civil defense organisation and stockpiles, including almost 9 MILLION civilian pattern gas masks and 24h protection suits with a one year supply of CBRN filters, and it's nation wide dispersed one year supply of fuel, seeds, metals, medicine etc.

I think that this is catching up with them: F35 has 300.000 parts and is every two workdays one leave the assembly. They will not be able to cover the cost of the whole production chain; from development to manufacturing and planes will cost more then better US planes. There is nothing that can offset the scale of economy and of course the funds available.

@@panan7777 it doesn't matter that much, they just need buyers. The more purchases, the cheaper production becomes. That's exactly why the F-35 is so cheap now compared to before. If it were selling like the F-16 did, it would probably be about the same price or lower for a better jet in many respects.

While the US is headed the other direction. Google: Most hated man in the pentagon - 60 Minutes

Nonsense: more like GENIUS! 😎

Really interesting that fast communication completely changed the autonomy level of the ships! Never thought of that as a "side-effect". Thanks, I learned something new :)

In a similar fashion commercial aviation has changed since the late 90s (when my career began) We had a lot more autonomy from our company back then. Now you can he over the ocean and use WiFi to contact home base (which is SOP now)

I think all militaries are struggling with retention for varied reasons. I agree, the Swedish mentality is fundamentally important in general. However, retention is a multifaceted issue. I know many military officers in the US left the military simply because they could make more money and have better work hour schedules in the private sector. Many also left because they disagreed with the way the Sec. of Defense was micromanaging military operations(Rumsfeld was infamous for this). Also, an important mention in the video is political cost cutting and cost management has gotten so exact there’s no flexibility, everything is done with cost as the absolute final decider, instead of one of many factors to manage. The Republicans forcing government shutdowns and blanket forced cost cutting is a prime example of how to screw your military and force them in this direction.

@@zulupox Modern navigation can be partially shore based. The shore can see a ship off course or moving into shallow or dangerous waters, altering the ship's bridge. This was possible when Costa Concordia hit rocks, but not in operation. The shore like to know that the ship is taking the most economical course, not veering off.

You are spot on about job satisfaction as a function of influence over how your work is done and organized. It's actually reported as much more important than your salary by Swedish people. I suspect that's true in most countries - but it requires that people have an attitude of willing to assume responsibility, and not just act on orders. This isn't the normal case in a lot of countries. And bosses have to accept that subordinates sometimes make the wrong calls. (As we all do!)

you think they done well? yet no fighter pilot has dropped a single bomb on Malmö? or any of your other invaded cities? in my humble opinion, you all lost it... in your heads and your country. Stockholm syndrome has infected you all.

Or just forget the awkward obligations of full NATO membership but drop the rigid global-neutrality doctrine. Pretty much every non-Turkish member of NATO (and many others besides) would be honored to ally with Sweden on a bilateral level. Rumor has it, the USA already does. Probably Finland too, etc. No Erdogan = no millstone around your neck.

Lets create a new aliance without Turkey and Hungary!

Well, welcome to the club!🫶🇸🇪

Militarily maybe. Not demographically.

In this day and age Militarily is more important, especially in that region!@@moltderenou

Yup, also saw some news about this with the A-10s stationed in ROK.

@@MilitaryAviationHistory USAF, RAF, and USMC have been doing dispersed operations with fighters, attack, and cargo aircraft for generations dating back to at least Korea. If you ever watched a REFORGER or TEAM SPIRIT Large Force Exercise in the 1980s, it would dwarf anything you see currently. They still do it with F-35s and A-10s.

Or the opposition is able to ballistically missile you to death. Yes I know the real term, tactical ballistic missiles.... There are many times where dispersal training is of use. Not least of which would be if you have to operate in a localized manner, for example envision this, a large Asian nation decides to go after a smaller island nation. Initially we would be using all of our fleet power. But there will be a point when it would be apparent that it be better to operate off of an unsinkable carrier. This carrier though can still be made into a whole bunch of potholes. So we, the greatest Air Force in the world, three times over, would still find it useful to operate off of said unsinkable carrier in a dispersed manner... This particular scenario applies to many other islands near the Philippines, Korea, Japan, everything in between including said unsinkable carrier, and many other places in the world. You are absolutely right, as long as we're not fighting a peer or near peer nation within their own weapon system ranges

I kinda used to agree with that statement. But Ukraine has shown us otherwise. It is a fairly large country, one I would have expected to be able to keep "the rear" safe. But as we have seen, even bases deep inland are vulnerable to hypersonic ballistic missiles and drone swarms. Even with a good anti air defense, the airfield is just such an important target that an enemy will use whatever they can to take it out. Now, I think any bigger nations are best served by a mix of capabilities. For example F-35A's + some F-35B's for dispersed operations. Or other kind of combination. Smaller nations might not be able to afford to operate more than one multi role aircraft though.

Sweden has strategic depth with Finland and the Gulf of Bothnia as their geographic buffers to the East, and Norway to the North and West. Sweden's most vulnerable approach vector is actually from Kaliningrad towards Gotland. Their maritime force posture is very important, which makes a lightweight fighter with limited mission radius a bad platform for that environment.

@@LRRPFco52 But the Baltic sea isn't that big. Of course longer combat range is always beneficial, but that would mean a heavier and more expensive plane and therefore fewer planes which also wouldnt work as well for dispersement. Gripens range is adequate.

@@olebaltasar6263 If you launch from Ronneby, sure you might have adequate mission radius in a Gripen, lightly-loaded, with some station time to loiter in an Anti-Ship or Maritime Recce role. But since Sweden is talking dispersed basing, even if we remotely locate West into the Swedish interior and still stay in Southern Sweden, like out near Borås, now that mission radius just doubled. If we’re operating from more up north, that’s an additional 130nm we’ll need if flying an anti-ship mission profile down towards Kaliningrad. A Recce/anti-ship profile will have reduced employment options. It’s a lot to ask for such a small airframe with so little internal fuel and limited weapons-carrying capacity. Gripen mission radius diminishes dramatically when you load it with external stores due to empty weight, fuel fraction, parasitic drag, and weight of the weapons. If it has to dodge or avoid Russian Flankers and eventually the Su-57 in that area, it’s pretty screwed in terms of being able to get into a WEZ profile for Anti-Ship missiles, and still faces the high probability of being run-down while in Bingo fuel state. Not good.

What would be the alternative, in your opinion, if military equipement is not designed with defence in mind.

@@hurri7720 An American here. I believe he means in the initial hours/days of conflict. After that it's defend AND attack !

It would make sense. Canada has lots of land to defend with a low population density and a great deal of political pressure not to spend excessively on defence.

Thankfully even the Canadian military is smarter than you

You do realize that the war might be over or nearly over before Ukraine gets any non-Soviet jet aircraft? Don’t count on it this year. It would be a pleasant surprise to see either F-16 or Gripen operating in Ukraine in 2024.

Yes but if Gripen is so good why did the US lobby so hard to convince/pressure/ threat other countries to buy the F-35, which is supposedly better?

@@mattiasdahlstrom2024 Because it is American. US government has a duty to promote US suppliers.

@@MarcosElMalo2 It's fairly obvious that we need to arm Ukraine with the most modern weapons both now and after the war. No more hand me downs. $200 billion/year and 1% of western GDP is the bare minimum. Even after the war Ukraine will need to be armed with the most modern weapons and not hand me downs. We will see this through. Any amount of money is worth it to save Ukraine and damage and punish Russia. Long term we will make Russia use its oil and gas riches pay for this. The longer Russia fights the worse it will get.

Maybe a good strategy even all along the Russian border - Baltic's, Ukraine, Poland, etc

That's why the germans and japanese lost. What a doctrine?

@@fernandocruz4877 seriously? Thats the best you have?

I disagree. Germany and Japan lost because their leaders made bad decisions. Their civilian population's as well as military personnel's honor and willingness to fight to the last breath is what made the war last for as long as it did.

I have no idea how to succinctly explain it because culture is very complicated, but "a conscript can be trusted to make his own decisions because you can trust the intentions of the conscript" doesn't mesh with what I know of Japanese culture. Things tend to be about not bothering or bringing shame to the people around you, not doing the honorable thing as an individual. I'd be curious if anyone can comment on JSDF views on command structure and initiative.

​@@fernandocruz4877 Wrong, modern military doctrine evolved from the german Auftragstaktik(spelling) and combined arms is another development from the tactivs they used during ww2. The way the tactic works is you set a goal and time, then the next level down passes out targets and time to lower levels, and it keeps being sent down at times to squad levels, so now everyone has a rough idea from army group to squad level of what goal must be taken or achieved and roughly within what timeframe, and now these units are free to go about the task in the best way they can with their means and adapt to circumstances better and faster than the soviet or french doctrine which was rigid and more akin to set plans to be followed to the letter. I recommend reading about it, it is fascinating and will cure your ignorance.

As a swede I think it's because in our culture we trust each other. We don't have strong hierarchies were you have to follow what one big boss wants to do. This is why our government didn't lock the whole country down. Because the government doesn't have the power to do so. There is no one in the swedish government that got absolute power or much extra power over any other person. If you look at China or Russia they are dictatorships and have absolute power. What one person at the top decides, that will be implemented and happen. Take Russia, one man at the top wanted to invade a country, that happened. Take China, one man at the top wanted to lock the whole country down because of Covid. That happened, and China had the thoughest lockdowns in the world because of this. The same is true for our compaines. Our bosses in Sweden don't have much power over their employees. This is why we have such a good work life balance, because we are pretty free to chose what we want to do at work. It's not our bosses who decide what to do, you decide yourself what you want to do. I work for a big swedish company as an IT - architect. During Covid I was allowed to work from home for 100% for two years. After Covid ended, we were allowed to work from home 50% of the time. So 50% at the office and 50% at home. We still have this schedule today and I think it's here to stay. At the same time, I have some french colleagues, but they don't have this rule, they were forced to go back to the office far earlier than I had to do. And today they must be in the office for 100% of the time, so they are not even allowed to work from home. So in Sweden we are much more free. And as I said, that is because we don't have strong hierarchies, we don't have bosses with a lot of power who can decide what they want us to do. We are not ruled like a bunch of minions.. ;) But this culture also creates a lot of innovation and promotes good ideas. This is why Sweden is a rich country and one of the strongest democracy's in the world. If not the strongest. And to just give you some proof that this model works. Just look at the Nobel prize that we hand out every year. We created that, and the reason why is because we have a really strong history of innovations, inventors, entrepreneurs, etc. So yes, if you don't have strong hierarchies, no bosses that tells you what to do, then you will be free to innovate. This is the swedish way of living and how our society is built. So it's not only reflected in our military, it's reflected in the government, in our companies, in the society as a whole. That's also why we pay high taxes, but our high taxes are actually spent very wizley and put to good use most of the time. But I think this has always existed in our culture. That is why the vikings were so successfull. And it's why we were a great empire at one point, even though we always have had a small population. We have always punched way above our weight militarily and when it comes to innovations. Our compaines punch above their weight today. It's just due to the cultural values that we hold, especially with the weak hierarchies mentality. That's what makes us efficient. If you are a boss in Sweden and try to flash your status or imply that you are valued more than others, then you will be put down so hard. That's the beauty in our culture! You should not think that you are better than anyone else. That's a core value that we have and follow. And if someone tries to deviate from that, then they will be punished by the masses. That's also why we have so strong trade unions/labour unions. But this also creates friendship. If everyone thinks they are equal and not worth more than others, then they are actually more likley to become friends. That will benefit teamwork, it will be more productive for society as a whole. That was a long explanation, but I hope you now understand why the swedish government didn't lock down. It's because they didn't have enough power to do so, because the people didn't want to do so. And in one of the strongest democracy's in the world, people have the power. Not a few powerfull people.

@@goldrush5764 The US was much like that until about 10 years ago. I am not sure how the woke/leftists gained so much influence so fast, but the US has been in a cultural free fall since then. I’m not sure when it will stop, but hopefully soon. Be cautious that the same doesn’t infect Sweden.

@@LTVoyager Well, we have had our problems too. Our problem has been our strong immigration of people from third world countries. The reason why we have had that problem is because we are nice people and wanted to help them. Therefore we took in a lot of people from the third world. However, they have caused so much problem with violence and crime. And they don't contribute to our society because they don't hold the same values as we do. But, we have woken up now and realized our misstakes so this will now be fixed. It used to be 10-20 years ago that we wanted to help them. But now the tide has turned a lot, so now our current government is putting up harsher sentences for crime. Removing welfare hand-outs and stuff. The simple reason for this is because most swedes have woken up and realized that we actually imported a bunch of criminals that wanted to take advantage of us. So we are currently moving in the right direction. However, we still want to help poor people in the world, but we realized that this can't be done through immigration to Sweden. It must be done through aid. So we will still do a lot of aid and stuff, but we won't bring them to Sweden because they are not compatible with living in a modern society.

@@LTVoyager But I can also say this. You have a problem in the US, and that is that you only have a two party system. For me, I just hate Trump. He has shown that he is almost a dictator and he also throws around a lot of conspiracy theories. In the beginning I supported Tump, but then he went totally off the rails and showed his true face. I also hate the fact that he doesn't support Ukraine. We swedes support Ukraine and will send military equipment for as long as it takes! No matter what! We are actually the country in the world who supports Ukraine the most if you ask people on the street. They did a poll in many western countries and we had the highest support of any country. 97% of swedes said that they supported Ukraine. I'm proud of that, and I see it as a strong support for democarcy. That's what it is. In the US I think it was a 70% support. Anyways, I didn't like Biden initially, but he has shown a very strong support for Ukraine. So in this regard I think he has passed with flying colors. So yes, initially I was not a democrate, and I'm not one now. But I'm not a republican either because I think they have totally gone mad and evil to be honest. The MAGA folks are just maniacs and they have hijacked the republican party. This was not what the republicans stod for, throughout history. So I'm very dissapointed about that. But yeah, I also think the leftist and woke people are maniacs as well. So for me, if I had to chose a side in american politics, I just can't! It's impossible because it's like choosing between cancer and heart disease. You don't want any of them. American politics is such a disaster right now. No common sense and just to radical on both sides. And that's the only thing you can choose from. It must suck so hard to be an american voter these days. Here in Sweden we have eight parties. All with different takes, from the whole spectrum. This is also why I think we are one of the strongest democracy's in the world. You have a lot more to chose from and that aligns more with your own views.

@@LTVoyager Sweden's far more left than the US. The Swedish right is to the left of the US left. We've had a stronger equality movement for longer, so while we do have wokeness and other extremists, there's also an overall higher social acceptance that moderates extremes on both sides. The main problem the US has had for a long time is the reliance on capitalism as a balancing structure, but while it works on some levels, it leads to the ones in power being large corporations, rather than the government or the people. But this is a bit more political and off topic.

I concur. It comes down, as Chris mentioned in the last section, to culture. One does not change culture particularly rapidly. We see a living example of it with the current conflict in that the Russian ability to shift on the move just isn't there because it is not part of their military culture. The same can be said, though perhaps to a lesser or greater degree in specific instances, with other militaries around the world. The Swedish model is perhaps defined as being one of the most flexible sheerly because of the culture, specifically the one inculcated in their military, because they have little choice due to the small size of their military. But the big drawback, as Chris also pointed out, is the vulnerability of that system. The Swedish model has the same vulnerability that the German and Japanese air forces suffered during WWII, the ability to replace long-service personnel in the events of losses just isn't present. Attrition would be devastating to such a force in the face of a long term conflict.

@@grognard23 Considering the expected outcome when facing the full weight of the Soviet juggernaut I don't believe long term was the primary consideration. If there was still resistance beyond partisan activity after a month that would probably have been considered a success. The idea was to survive until Nato hopefully would decide to intervene. Whether the logic behind the overall defense policy made sense is another matter. I believe some study capped Swedish resistance against nuclear attacks at about 10. Exactly why the Soviets would decide to launch a conventional invasion of Sweden unless within the context of a wider war with Nato I can't say. But the Soviets did not invade so in the end it apparently worked.

@@Mosisli I fully agree that long term was not a consideration. I imagine they just wanted to, much like Switzerland, make themselves thorny enough to not be worth the bite, so to speak. The long term attrition issue would not have applied to them in case of a short war but, nevertheless, should they have been unsuccessfully invaded and been involved in a longer term conflict, it would rapidly have become an issue. Highly unlikely, of course, but still true should such a thing have occurred.

@@grognard23 Certainly in such a long term conflict it would likely have been very difficult for them to replace lost pilots. Though unless one also presumes Sweden like Japan and Germany would be able to replace lost aircraft the issue with capable new fighter lacking pilots might not apply to the same degree. I.e. "We have no more pilots but fortunately we also have no more aircraft."

@@Mosisli Valid point, that. Just depends on if it turns into a forever war with nuclear weapons always staying in the "threat" rather than their actual usage. "Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia..."

I often travel to Sweden and was very impressed by the amount of tasks taken on by an average Swede were other nationalities would be calling on an expert. From laying concrete or repairing houses to fixing machines or building a boat, it seems Swedes are capable of fulfilling a wide range of tasks themselves.

​@@FFM0594i dont hire experts for things other than when it is recuired due to insurrance or very complicated things. I'm a girl and i built my own porch ,.changed the panels on house and painted it. Its like almost embarrassing if you dont have these skills to be a multifixer, we kids learn to fix things togheter with our parents at a young age We are expexted to help out, in my family anyway , and we dont get reprimanded if we get it wrong. Its just " that's a good lesson to learn from, now you know what not to do" I could never afford to hire expert to everything and besides its fun to learn new skills even if it isnt perfect , its a sense of pride figuring things out yourself.

Agreed. Swedish neutrality is the key to understanding the Swedish mentality when it comes to defense strategy. This also means that they must change their mentality (and defense strategy) when they become a member of NATO. Another aspect is that the Swedish neutrality was based on the fact that the flanks were secured with Finland and Norway in the west, north and east. Only the threat from the south via Kaliningrad was realistic or if Finland was taken first (or at the same time).

@@Hvitserk67 I completly disagree , we are & will always remain within range of massive missile attacks , unlike US (which sets the standard in NATO) and it will not be benefical for any of ous if its all centralised and easily destroyed within the first hour of a future combat scenario. NATO would really benefit with more resiliance at least for those who share similar problems.

​@@matso3856So why join NATO?

Not anymore. Sweden joined the Nazis of Nato.

@@fredmdbud So that "we" can retaliate if someone strikes ous. Its the same reasons why you get insurance on your stuff.

And I here I though Pierre Sprey died. Thankfully the American military is full of people a lot smarter than you

Yeah, being able to take off and land in short distances is never a bad thing, nor is the capability to be flexible with logistics. Even if you don't intend to use those capabilities, they are good to have. The real question is how much of a trade-off is worth it for any given military.

Anything recent?

Not really.

@@ja37d-34 Was a big thing just a few years ago that they started practicing vägbas again

​​​@@meanmanturbo Yes but the tech to do this was availible and the aircraft built for this. But a valid point is that it is not enough to have aircraft and tech supoort for this it still needs to be implemented and regularly trained even when we knew how to do it.

Luckily our airforce basically survived this downsizing. The maybe biggest problem today are under paid Gripen pilots.

@@rudolfabelin383 its more important to import and feed terrorists from desert countries for our politicians

Yes, I second this )

Not sure the USA remembers well but in 1941 a lot of US planes were lined up for security purposes, and a sneak attack pretty much wiped them out. GB has an interesting Regimental system, where old members meet with current members over dinner or whatever, and talk about old stories and old lessons. Kind of a "grape vine" of information dispersal.

@@garywheeler7039 That was Pearl Harbor - a case where paranoia worked against them (35% of Hawaii was ethnic Japanese).

In WW2? Lots. The Japanese wiped out British planes in Ceylon and Malaya on the ground. 200 British and American planes were wiped out mainly on the ground by the Germans in Operation Bodenplatte, on 1 Jan 1945. 800 Luftwaffe fighters attacked allied airfields. They lost up to 300 of their own fighters and over 200 pilots were killed or taken prisoner. Little loss of life on the Allied side. The Allies were were able to replenish their planes and ground equipment within days. After the raid the Luftwaffe was a spent force.

Israel knocked out the Egyptian air force on the ground on June 5, 1967, and that certainly had an impact on how the war ended

"I have experienced to many strange things during my service" - come on, you can't just drop a curiosity magnet like that and not say anything further. share some of those strange experiences with us.

@@the80386 It is very simple: The absolute stupidity of rules and orders. One of many highlights was the control of the colors of the socks the soldiers were wearing, before going home for the weekend: Over a hundred soldiers had to lift their trousers and a sergeant did contol every single soldier to find out if their socks had acceptable colors. You had to buy the socks at home from your own money, they were not provided. There was so much bullshit going on that I changed from enthusiastic soldier to a guy who nearly got insane and fulll of hatred and despair seeing how unable and primitive many superiors were. It kind of felt like serving in an Army full of arrogant but absolutely demented Nazis. For years after my last Army service I even had nightmares: I had to stand on one leg and was ordered to shout glabubu for a hndered times and shit like that.

what does "came to F14" mean.

@@richardmeyeroff7397 F14 is one of the airbases here :)

@@jsv1891aik Thank You

@@richardmeyeroff7397F14 is the squadron organisation, not the air base.

I disagree. I'd argue that the superior capability and reliability of the Hornet far outweighs the *_ridiculously inconsequential_* need for a few more easily available and cheap mechanics. People keep pretending that maybe one truck more of equipment and a mechanic or two more would be some ground-breaking savings for a Western nation's air force! Doesn't the Hornet even have the advantage of the tailhook thanks to its very robust design made to allow for aircraft carrier operations? I have observed Finland's Hornet highway operations live, but in those occasions they didn't use them and I can't remember if they had them at the ready in case of emergencies.

F18 would be better for dirty runways like in Ukraine tho, but ye there are not that many F18 close to the giant number of F16 there is around. The biggest challenge with F16 tho is all the maintenance it needs, 2hours for 1 jet flying 1hour.. However the support Ukraine gets from F16 countries like my own will do.

@@pistonburner6448 It's not about savings or availalibility of the mechanics. For Finland it's about securing the air force by not having them necessarily rely on bases, as the bases would be vulnerable to attacks and they surely are among the first targets in case of war. If there's many suitable places to operate just by using the existing roads, then the enemy is unable to destroy the means for Finland's (or Sweden's) air force to keep on operating.

@@FINNSTIGAT0R I replied to you about what you said about the differences between Hornet and Gripen. Re-read my reply. I didn't write anything about dispersed operations...besides, I almost certainly know more about Finland's dispersed operations than you do.

@@FINNSTIGAT0R ​I have no idea who you are answering to. You for sure are not replying to anything I wrote.

But it was the other way round. SAAB is an aircraft company that started to build cars. SAAB means Svenska aeroplan aktiebolaget founded in 1937. (Swedish aeroplane ltd) They started to design, and build, cars in 1947 to keep their engineers and workforce after ww2.

@darkiee69 Yeah but when I was 6 years old, I didn't know that.

And how do you imagine NATO could invade other countries if it did that?

Why ? Which member countries of NATO need the dispersed operational capability that Sweden does ? Finland.

@@hb1338 Actually, it's rather clever not to put all your eggs in one basket.

There are multiple variants depending on what system we're talking about , but basicly yes.

That was the model before cabinet Reinfeldt decided that FMV didn't need technical competence, as the industry already have engineers... and the military were to be the experts on what was needed.

​@@BPo75Seems like FMV is reganing much of it's old role now though.. 🤔 But it will take time to get to where it was, obviously..

The USMC and USAF have been doing these kinds of dispersed operations for real, for decades. RAF has as well. If I’ve been doing it institutionally since World War II and exceeded the mission requirements assigned to every squadron over those generations, why would I go ask someone who has never done it how to do it?

The new direction of USMC is resembling the former Swedish coastal defense brigades

@@LRRPFco52 "why would I go ask someone who has never done it how to do it?" Because you might find new approaches that let you raise efficiency and/or lower the costs.

USA has aircraft carriers and doesn't need bases.

Thanks, Jens!

​@@MilitaryAviationHistory mein freund, you think the wehrmacht should have gotten the gripen?

Britain has defence agreements with both Sweden and Ireland.

*Grin.*

@@lutherblissett9070 Actually we have agreements with the Baltic states since many years and recently USA as well. Baltic countries had planes to come to Swedish airspace, to signal Swedish support while Russia acting aggressive close to our boarders. USA had military ships in Stockholm recently. So no, Sweden will not be on it's own. A common missunderstanding is that Sweden removed it's defence. All these years Sweden had a civil-military defence. By the way, I am an ex-employee at the Swedish Defence Material Administration. My job was to create procurement requirements for legislation and information security. It was a temporary job for only five months in 2013. Today I work with SEO and affiliate marketing. But at least I am not a person that just have opinions in a comment section. I know a little from a professional standpoint.

Our recon platoon infiltrated the air base, using real guns but fake ammunition. The defenders had real guard dogs with real teeth. Our recon platoon did a quick reverse advance flying over the fence..

@@mattiasdahlstrom2024 :-D More dogs in the militaries .... ;-)

Yeah, and the way the Russian logistics works in Ukraine, it seems the food and ammunition shipments follow a classic Sovjet 5-year plan.

On the topic of mission command there is a good read available titled "Trigger-Happy, Autonomous, and Disobedient: Nordbat 2 and Mission Command in Bosnia" available in the internet

You’re absolutely right. I was a Swedish army officer in the early 90’s and the “mission command” concept was very integral to all our training. What we are now seeing in Ukraine is exactly what we were training to face. There are a lot of benefits to having well informed and empowered soldiers that can take initiative and have decisive impact on combat outcomes. All branches of the Swedish military place a high value on “local knowledge” and they want their combatants to be familiar with the terrain, airspace or marine environment. Why put yourself at the disadvantage of not knowing the area you are going to operate in?

There isn't anything unique about what's described in this video about calculated risks among NATO forces, who have generations of actual combat experience while Sweden has none. For example, it's commonplace for NATO air component forces to conduct hot re-arm, refueling, and even FARPs supported by transport aircraft on remote airstrips as part of Large Force Exercises and Warfighter Experiments with new platforms. On top of all that NATO air forces do this under NBC and base attack conditions, both in training and for real. USAF, USMC, and USN in Vietnam, REFORGERs, TEAM SPIRITs, BRIGHT STARs, RED FLAGs, ODS, Yugoslavia, OIF, OEF, OIR, and Atlantic Trident have been performing under these conditions at levels the Swedes will never experience. As to OPFOR: I've done OPFOR against all kinds of units. OPFOR is always more agile and Blue Forces will almost always seem sluggish because OPFOR is initiating contact and is left free to do what it wants to test Blue Forces. The only unit that impressed me was 2/75 Ranger Battalion, operating in Platoon or smaller elements. They crush OPFOR for sport, and would do the same to pretty much any other NATO force aside from Para Regiment and Royal Marines (their peers). I have also worked with Swedish military officers and enlisted in Estonia during Erna Raid. The Swedish officers like to talk around in circles about extraneous things without any sense of purpose, easily losing focus of the mission at-hand, because they've been so far removed from actual combat experience, creating a culture of military theory, not practice. When Swedish senior snipers were invited to attend FinnSniper, they showed up, started unpacking, saw the Finns, Germans, French, Danes, etc. getting prepared, then packed up their stuff saying the accommodations weren't up to their standards. These were better than most barracks I have seen in all my deployments across the world, ranging from all over the US, Germany and Korea, to Panama, and the Middle East. I think the Swedish Sniper instructors just realized they would be out-classed, had no chance of placing in the competition, and instead of using it as a training opportunity, quit and left back to Sweden. It was the most unprofessional thing I think I ever saw at such an event. That sums up Swedish military mindset.

​@@claesnorell8702 This is basic MDMP in NATO, nothing unique.

@@LRRPFco52 Thats just a bunch of BS and you know it. Top Gun is essentially standard Swedish pilot training. And has been since the 50s. Swedish pilots regurarely flew at 600 knots at 10-20m off the ground back in the day for instance. US pilots floor level was 100m as standard. The US didnt adopt Mission Command until the 70s and Sweden had implemented it since 1945 more or less. In 2016 I believe it was, a US officer wrote an article on how the US has adopted mission command but not embraced it like Sweden. Sweden has trained with NATO on multiple occasions and performs extremely well on land, in the air and at sea. It is well documented. Mission Command is simply put something Sweden is good at. Its linked to the doctrine of Free War adopted in the 50s that every unit, no matter the branch, was expected to resort to guerilla warfare if required. Meaning each leader on even the lowest position was and is expected to act on initiative, gut feeling and be able to have feel for the larger battle. This is just something Sweden is good at. And something that will benefit NATO. The US is extremely good at logistics. The US is extremely good at air superiority. Sweden, on the other hand, has trained and equipped itself for 80 years for fighting a numerical superior enemy, meaning the Swedish armed forces has a deep culture of acting on opportunities on the battlefield and trusting the guy closest to the action to make the correct call.

This. We've done dispersed operations. We've done it for decades. With airframes not specialised for it. I don't get the headline on this video at all. NATO trains this method of operations.

F-35 would probably not work, as you propose. Big logistical footprint, very hot exhaust and obstacles from unprapared runway flying in the air.

Saab is part of the BAe Tempest program, it will most likely have road base capability :)

@@backisgabbeYT when did SAAB joined, after leaving?

@atlet1 I haven't heard anything about Saab ever leaving the program, maybe you have a source I haven't found, but SAAB has taken a smaller role in development, but I understood it as a temporary stance.

@@backisgabbeYT I think they have withdrawn at this point.