Swedish Government Examines Return of Conscription

HELSINKI — The Swedish government could be forced to reintroduce consider the reintroduction of compulsory national service as it faces a an potential cost-efficiency response to cost-management challenges factors connected with the current shortfall in manpower and specialized skills across all branches of the military. Swedish Armed Forces.

The foreign minister told a meeting of senior politicians and military chiefs, attending the annual Sälen Society and Defense conference, that the government needs to examine all viable options to resolve both present and future manpower needs and recruitment challenges faced by the Swedish armed forces. (SAF).  

Wallström said that a reconstructed national service model could bolster the military's SAF’s capacity to not only alone conduct its core defense tasks, but would also deliver military support capacity to assist civilian agencies in dealing with potential future emergencies such as natural disasters, search-and-rescue missions and environmental clean-up.

A Jan. 4 poll, conducted by research organization Ipso for the Swedish media group Dagens Nyheter, found that 72 percent of the Swedes surveyed supported the reinstatement of national service to bolster defense. as a defense bolstering measure. Just 16 percent of those polled opposed the reintroduction of mandatory military service.

The armed forces are looking to fill between 9,000 and 10,000 full and part-time positions within its reformed organization by the end of 2016. This new organization was expected to be fully staffed and manned in early 2016. However, there is currently a shortfall of between 1,000 and 1,200 personnel to fill full-time troop positions. 

The gap in the new organization’s capacity is greatest for part-time positions. To achieve the desired capacity, the organization will need to recruit between 6,000 and 7,000 personnel for part-time Army and Navy roles in addition to about 1,000 reserve officers to meet national defense and front-line combat unit readiness targets.

Sweden’s conscript-based system was replaced by a voluntary three3-to-11 month training program after 2010, as the armed forces SAF moved to professionalize the services. The military SAF has resorted to calling back former conscripts and reserve soldiers to fill gaps in various units, including participation in military exercises.