http://www.thelocal.se/9635/20080112/
Financial crisis rocks Swedish
military
Published: 12 Jan 08 10:35 CET
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/9635/
Sweden's armed forces are mulling extensive cutbacks as a deepening
economic crisis looms in 2008.
The cost of running the Armed Forces is
expected to exceed the military budget by between 1 and 1.5 billion
kronor, Svenska Dagbladet reports.
Lietenant General Jan Salestrand confirmed that the military was
experiencing considerable financial problems.
"I want to underline the fact that we are sticking to our
allocation and looking after our finances - but this also means
that we have to put measures in place to reduce our ambitions and
operations," he told Svenska Dagbladet.
The military is weighing up drastic action in its bid to balance
the books, with new directives scheduled to be sent out to its
various units next week.
Measures under consideration include: terminating the contracts of
soldiers in the Nordic Battlegroup in August; grounding 40 percent of fighter plane pilots;
mothballing half of all JAS Gripen planes; reducing the size
of military units; introducing shorter training periods for new
recruits.
"We underestimated the costs of developing the Armed Forces into a
mission-based force," said Jan Salestrand in a statement.
TT/The Local ([email protected]/08 656 651
