Sweden will provide Ukraine with the largest package of military assistance since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ulf Kristersson, Prime Minister of Sweden, announced this.

The 3 billion kroner ($287 million) aid package includes air defense systems along with ammunition and other weapons that Ukraine has requested.

“This is a larger batch of military assistance than all eight previous packages combined. This is the biggest thing we have done so far, and we are strictly following the Ukrainian priority list of what they themselves think they need at the moment,” said Ulf Kristersson during the press conference.

The kinds of weapons included in the aid package were not specified.

Swedish Air Defense

The Swedish military is equipped with a CV9040 AAV anti-air vehicle.

It includes a 40 mm cannon with an increased elevation angle, as well as a PS-95 radar. The vehicle is also equipped with the UTAAS fire control system and the LuLIS radio-based computer information system.

The ground forces of Sweden purchased 25 such vehicles. They serve as the standard means of air defense of tank and mechanized battalions – each of which includes a platoon of three anti-air vehicles. In 2016, an agreement was concluded on the modernization of 16 vehicles.

The most massive MANPADS in the Swedish Ground Forces is the RBS 70 portable anti-aircraft missile system.

It was developed back in the 1970s, and is very popular in the world – approximately 18,000 missiles have been manufactured for it. The system development continues even now.

At the same time, the Ground Forces of Sweden do not purchase its latest modifications. Instead, Stockholm chose the IRIS-T SL mobile air defense system, which uses air-to-air missiles.

Sweden had ordered an air defense system with SLS missiles. Their range reaches 10 km, and the altitude of the target damage is 5 km. Also, IRIS-T SL could use the SLM missiles – their range is 40 km, and the attack altitude is 20 km.

The Swedish military also uses an air defense system on a Bv 410 tracked chassis. A Swedish Giraffe AMB radar is mounted on it.

Sweden is also equipped with the American Hawk air defense systems. They were adopted as RBS 67. In the 80s, the air defense system was refined to the Updated Hawk standard and received the designation RBS 77.

In the 1990s, the systems underwent another modernization and received the designation RBS 97.

It is worth emphasizing that at the end of the 1980s, the Swedish military had 22 batteries of Hawk systems in its service, and as of 2018, only two of them remained.

After Russia’s aggression against Ukraine in 2014, Sweden began the process of updating the air defense system. In August 2018, the Swedish government approved the purchase of four Patriot SAM system batteries.

It should be noted that assistance from the Swedish government might include both individual air defense systems and missiles for them.