Special
Operations.Com
Sweden
Special
Operations Forces
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SSG
Särskilda Skydds Gruppen (Special Protection Group)
Scandinavian
Special Operations Forces
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Gallery One
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Gallery Two
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Gallery Three
An
overview of Swedish Elite Forces &
Counter Terrorism Units
The
Army
Ÿ
Arméns
Fallskärmsjägarskola (FJS)
- (Army
Parachute Ranger School): FJS
provides Ranger and LRRP training for the Army’s Parachute
Ranger units. The Parachute Rangers belong to a reconnaissance
unit, which during a mission should: first, avoid
detection, second, avoid combat and third, fight as
silent as possible. They are similar to their British
colleagues (The Parachute Regiment) and have, as they,
maroon berets. In the event of hostilities Parachute
Ranger units would conduct intelligence gathering
missions, and raids against high value targets.
Ÿ
Lapplands
Jägarregemente
(I22) - (Lapland
Ranger Regiment):
Known as “Arctic Rangers", the men of the Lapland
Ranger Regiment are trained to operate in the arctic
Northern regions of Sweden. I22 troops receive extensive
training in conducting cold weather operations, and
arctic survival skills. During war the I22 Rangers
would conduct long-range patrols; long distance raids;
and ambushes in enemy rear areas. In late 1999 the
Swedish Army announced that I22 would be disbanded.
Ÿ
Livgardet
(I1/K1)
– (Life Guard): Military
Police (Rangers) are trained by this unit, which was
formed in the summer of 2000, when two units (K1 and
I1) were merged into one. The soldiers, who are trained
in the vicinity of Stockholm, have the task of protecting
the capital city and its surroundings. An Urban Infantry
Battalion is also placed here.
Ÿ
Livregementets
Husarer
(K3) - (Life
Hussar Regiment):
K3
is a former cavalry unit trained to operate in the
central and southern Sweden. The unit is equipped
with specially equipped with specially equipped 4X4
vehicles armed with antitank missiles. During hostilities
they would conduct raids, and antitank ambushes.
Ÿ
Norrlands
Dragonregemente (K4)
- (Norrland
Dragoon Regiment): Trained
to operate in the northern potion of Sweden, the unit
would conduct combat operations enemy rear areas,
performing raids, and ambushes against high value
targets.
Ÿ
Militärpolisjägarna
- (Military
Police Rangers):
The Swedish Army’s Military Police (MP) Rangers are
a relatively new unit. These specially selected MPs
are trained to conduct counter SOF missions near Swedish
Army installations. They are trained at K1 and K3.
Ÿ
Stadsskyttebataljonerna (Urban Infantry
Battalions) in Kungsängen (I1/K1) and in Halmstad
(IB16 – disbanded).
The
Navy
Ÿ
Amfibieregementen
(Amf
1 and Amf 4 – together they in wartime form the 1st
Amphibian Brigade) -
(Amphibian
Regiments):
The troops of the Navy’s Amphibian Regiments are Sweden’s
“Marines”. They are trained in conducting amphibious
operations, and repelling an assault by an enemy amphibious
force.
Ÿ
Kustjägarna
(KJ) - (Coastal
Rangers):
Coastal Rangers are the naval equivalent of the Swedish
Army’s Airborne Rangers. Coastal Rangers conduct LRRP
missions along the Swedish coastline; execute amphibious
raids against high value targets; counter attacks
by enemy naval SOF units; and acting as shock troops
during amphibious assault operations. The
Coastal Rangers are an offensive unit unlike the other
Swedish units in the national defense. The Swedish
archipelago is a very easy target for enemy bases
and stuff like that, so the Coastal Rangers is specially
trained to "throw the enemy back in the sea".
They use Combat boat 90 to make a violent landing
at the shore to retake the island from the enemy,
the are supported by heavy machineguns, Carl Gustaf
Recoilless rifle, anti-tank/anti-material rocket assist
84mm and Mk 19 grenade launcher (fires 5-6 40mm grenades/sec).
If they don't use the combat boats they can use Klepper
kayaks or helicopters.
They are highly trained close combat soldiers and
they are also trained to board ships, raid buildings
and perform sabotage against enemy installations.
They mainly use the same weapons as all Swedish units.
Glock 17 9mm, Ak5 (modified FN FNC), Ak5b (sniper
version), Ak5c (with m/203 grenade launcher), Ksp58b
7.62mm (FN MAG), Ksp m/90 5,56mm (FN Minimi), Heavy
machine gun 12,7mm (FN version of the Browning M2),
Grg m/48 (Carl Gustaf Recoilless rifle, anti-tank/anti-material
rocket assist 84mm) and GSP (Sako Mk 19 40mm grenade
launcher).
The Coastal Rangers are trained at Amf 1 (formerly
known as KA 1).
Ÿ Attackdykarna
(A-dyk)
-
(Attack
Divers):
The Swedish Navy’s Attack Divers are the elite combat
swimmer unit that conducts operations similar to the
USN SEALs, or the British SBS.
They are trained to mount attacks on enemy shipping;
conduct beach reconnaissance; conduct hydrographic
surveys; execute small-scale amphibious raids, and
sabotage operations. Attack Divers are recruited from
the ranks of the Navy’s elite Coastal Ranger units.
Ÿ
Röjdykarna
- (Mine
Clearance Divers):
Mine Clearance Divers are the Swedish Navy’s Explosive
Ordnance Disposal (EOD) unit. They are trained to
conduct EOD operations,
and shallow water mine clearance operations, in support
of both Swedish and allied forces.
Ÿ
Bassäk
- (Naval Counter SOF
Company):
Bassäk is the Swedish Navy’s counter SOF unit. A company
sized force; Bassäk is tasked with protecting Swedish
naval installations from attack by hostile forces.
Bassäk teams conduct security, and reconnaissance
patrols using specially trained dog teams, small boats,
and in some situations combat divers.
The
Air Force
Flygbasjägarna
(FBJ)
- (Swedish
Air Force Rangers / SAFRs):
A relatively new unit tasked with protecting Swedish
Air Force units, and installations from attack by
SOF
units. SAFRs conduct security patrols outside of Air
Force installation perimeters using vehicle mounted,
and foot patrols. SAFRs are trained to use specially
trained dogs to aid them in their search for any intruder.
Once an intruder is detected, an ambush would be established
to engage and destroy any force attempting to gain
access into a restricted area. They are trained at
F7, and sometimes also at F21.
Närskydd
(NSKY):
NSKY is the air force answer to the Navy's Bassäk.
They assist the SAFR (or FBJ) in their task. When
the enemy SOF get too close to the airbase they are
put on the job. The NSKY is build and trained in the
same way as the SAFR and the only difference is where
they are located (closer to the base than the SAFR
). They consist of small groups. Each man is trained
in one area, whether it is explosives, heavy weapons,
dogs or leadership. Their purpose is to seek out hostile
SOF units and destroy them before they succeed in
their mission. They work closely with the SAFR and
behave almost identical to them. The only difference
is that they are located in the outer regions of an
airbase. In peacetime they also handle the security
on the airbases, patrolling with dogs and responding
to alarms. They have worked closely with the Swedish
equivalence to US SWAT teams and they also escort
weapon shipments.
Joint
Service Units
Ÿ
Försvarsmaktens
Särskilda Skyddsgrupp - (SSG):
SSG
is a relatively new unit within the Swedish armed
forces. Recruited exclusively from officers, the unit
is trained to conduct POW rescue missions; hostage
rescue operations; and to provide close protection
details for Swedish VIPs.
Police
Units
Ÿ
Ordningspolisens
Nationella Insatsstyrka - (ONI):
ONI
is the Swedish National Police counter terrorist unit.
Dominique
Sumner
Links
Swedish
Armed Forces
- You may be able to find info on Sweden's special
operations units here, if you can read Swedish.
22nd
Arctic Ranger (Infantry) Regiment
Reader
Comments:
the
information itself is correct but to categorize all
the units as special forces is wrong.
first of all, Sweden doesn't have a standing army
like most of the world. we have a conscript army like
many other nations, but as you know most nations still
have active units even in peacetime. Sweden's combined
defence forces have something like 27,000 people employed
in peacetime, but most of those people are either
civilian personnel or instructors for the yearly 40,000
or so conscripts.
therefore many of these "jaeger"-units are
not active units, they're only supposed to be mobilized
in case of a foreign (soviet/russian) invasion. i
know we have so called "repmånader" when
these units are called in to join training operations
with the yealy conscripts, but i dont know how often
that is, since eastern europe fell our defence force-funding
have been cut down drastically.
nonetheless these "jaeger"-units we have
are very well trained. from what I've heard, some
of them (most likely "kustjaegarna" and
our attack divers) have conducted training operations
with your Navy SEALs and were equal in stamina, marksmanship,
general skills and so on, but still our forces have
no actual combat experience. They're never used since
they have to be mobilized first.
the only forces i know are active all the time are
the SSG (Saerskillda Skyddsgruppen/Special Security
Group) and ONI (Ordningspolisens Nationella Insatsstyrka/National
Rapid Response Unit). The SSG is a part of the defence
forces, it consist of career-officers and contain
no conscripts at all, therefore this unit can be defined
as "real" special operations force. they
never conduct any operations in peacetime but they
are always on training. the ONI is a police swat-force
and therefore always active, so this can also be called
a special operations force. also we have peace-keeping
forces that are active but these are not special operations-capable
as far as i know, apart from the fact that they are
on a rapid response-status.
i know that army and navy "jaeger"-units
have been called in for police service on some occasions
though. such as a bank robbery gone wrong one time,
the robbers sieged themselves inside the bank and
took a lot of hostages. that time naval snipers where
called in to back the regular police swat-teams. i
don't really know whether these units where conscripts,
but i really doubt that. most likely it was career-officers.
most of these occasions occurred before the ONI was
formed and im pretty unsure regular defence forces
will be called in for police duty again.
also some of the naval forces described are not really
special forces either. the "amfbat" is like
your marine corps, they contain special forces-groups
like the "kustjaegarna" but are the battalion
itself is just an infantry battalion trained for amphibious
landings.
it all depend on how you define a special operations-capable
unit. im not 100% sure about all ive said here, but
at least 95% anyway. some technicalities might be
wrong and theres probably a couple of spelling mistakes
too. but the bottom line still is that sweden is a
small country with nearly 9 million inhabitants, we
have not been in a war situation for 300 years and
we have a conscript army. i think its very strange
that we have so many different special operations-units.
if you compare with germany for example we have more
special forces according to the information on the
page. but as i said, its all about how you define.
i hope you understand what ive written here. its probably
a bit hard to get a grip about what i meen. anyway
if you want to i can dig a little deeper on our defence
site www.mil.se, its only a little fraction that has
been translated into english.
i really hope you dont get mad or anything over this
mail. i just dont want guys from around the world
having the wrong idea about our defence.
NOTE:
Thanks to Pontus and Niklas for their help!
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