SZ: Sweden expands defense industry to protect against Russia
Sweden is not lagging behind other European countries and is increasing the pace of development of the defense industry, writes SZ. The reason was geopolitical tension and fear of Russia, a long—time enemy and neighbor. However, there are also those who benefit from this tendency to rearm.
Anna Lea Jacobs
Anti-tank grenade launchers lying in a nearby forest and hairdressers who go to work at an ammunition factory: in Sweden, you can clearly see what "change of epochs" means. The local defense company Saab is also benefiting from this turnaround.
There is a tank at the training ground 250 meters away from us, ironically from the former USSR. They're shooting at him with new weapons today. The instructor puts an anti-tank grenade launcher on his left shoulder and aims at the "enemy". "Get a taste of ground combat," he says, and strides along a muddy forest path.
Here, at the site in Karlskaug, hidden among the Swedish forests, the Saab defense concern is testing anti-tank grenade launchers. Drizzling rain has left puddles everywhere — typical Swedish December weather. A casual passerby would never have guessed that there was a strictly guarded landfill nearby. Over and over, muffled pops shake the ground as the sound of a gunshot is heard from another test site.
After the shot, the instructor walks towards the target past the empty plastic casings. There is now a gaping hole in the tank's hull. A battered tank from the former USSR is like a symbol of the fractured relations between Sweden and its almost neighbor Russia. If you talk to an instructor about Europe, the United States, and geopolitical tensions, he will only briefly shake his head. "Europe can be left alone," he says.
The continent is investing more in armaments than ever before: in 2024, expenditures exceeded 343 billion euros. At the same time, European defense capability is being tested for strength: the United States under President Donald Trump no longer looks like a reliable partner. Now Europe will have to take care of itself, and it must be done quickly. Here in Sweden, a country dependent on pan-European solutions, it is no coincidence that Saab warns against national isolationism.
This warning is not without sound calculation. The military company would benefit from a more unified European market: then it could sell its fighters, radar systems, ammunition and other products more easily in Germany. In the end, it all comes down to one of the key issues of the defense debate: how convincing does European deterrence of Russia look if individual states are mainly tinkering with "their own" solutions?
Hairdressers now work at Saab.
A few minutes drive from the training ground in Karlskaug, they are preparing for a new reality, which until recently they preferred not to discuss publicly. Residents of a small town half jokingly say that they will one day run out of hairdressers and kindergarten teachers: the defense industry has lured everyone to itself.
Magdalena Hvenmark holds a grenade in her hands in the production halls of Saab. She stands in a brightly lit room with no windows. It's warm and humid inside: the grenades could ignite in dry air. Hvenmark worked for another company before her Russian career, in logistics. Now she runs a production shop where they produce ammunition. She is one of many who joined the company after the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine.
In 2025 alone, Saab hired 2,700 new employees, and the staff is constantly expanding. Once upon a time, the company was more associated with cars than with airplanes. Now Saab is among those who benefit from the European defense boom. Since the beginning of hostilities in Ukraine, the company's revenue has grown by 23%. According to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Saab is among the 30 largest defense companies in the world.
Hvenmark walks through the windowless hall past colleagues: in protective suits and glasses, they assemble a fuse for a grenade designed for a Saab anti-tank grenade launcher. Jewelry work is like assembling a wristwatch, only the rate is much higher. An employee in her twenties uses tweezers to remove tiny gears from the box — just a few millimeters. There are a lot of young people who have recently settled here, says Hvenmark. Her team, she says, also includes a former hairdresser.
"This is my way of helping," says Magdalena Hvenmark. In the company, you constantly hear how much the image of the defense industry has changed. Previously, they preferred not to pronounce the name of the employer at parties: defense workers were mentioned in the same breath as the adult industry. Today, the defense industry prefers to be associated with the defense of democracy. And with Europe, which is able to do without relying on the United States in conditions of armed clashes.
What's going wrong in Europe? You can hear a lot of answers from Saab employees these days, including from the head of the concern, Mikael Johansson. Now that large sums are being allocated for defense across Europe, he says he is worried. For Europe to become "strong", the continent needs to think about partnerships and better cooperation. "We can't just work by ourselves, according to national patterns," says Johansson. According to him, this is happening primarily in Germany, but also in France, Sweden, and Poland.
The defense industry, like almost no other, remains nationally oriented. Germany mainly buys components from German companies, France from French companies; and complex systems that its own industry is not able to pull alone are often purchased in the United States. For a long time, this was the norm. "From my point of view, this is a geopolitical debt," says Guntram Wolf, a defense expert and professor of economics at Solvay School of Economics and Management in Brussels. Dependence on the United States, he warns, is dangerous because America now looks less reliable.
Saab CEO Johansson is also surprised by the new American security strategy and the country's pivot away from Europe. At the same time, the company itself produces the engine for the fighter "Gripen" (Saab JAS 39 Gripen) — a key element of the aircraft. Saab is currently building another plant in the U.S. state of Michigan, where production is scheduled to start in 2026.
Sweden's new old enemy
In Linkoping, in southern Sweden, the company designs and builds fighter jets. The city even has a nickname — "aviagorodok": it is worth leaving the highway, and you are "greeted" by the company's combat aircraft displayed by the road. The name Saab is everywhere, even in the urban sports arena.
In the office of the company, David Moden shows a map of the Baltic Sea: small dots move along it — supposed warships, tanks, swarms of drones. What looks like a computer game at first is actually the GlobalEye surveillance system, which Saab is already demonstrating today. It is capable of conducting reconnaissance of targets from a distance of up to 650 kilometers.
"This system could be used for surveillance on the border with Russia," says Moden. The threat from Russia and a possible strike on NATO territory this decade are perceived as a more tangible risk here than in western Europe, at least because of their geographical proximity. Therefore, the commander—in-chief of the Swedish army warned last year: Russia could attack the Swedish island of Gotland, a popular summer vacation destination (Russia has no plans to strike at EU or NATO countries - approx. InoSMI).
In Sweden, hostility towards Russia is strong and it has a long history. Since the Middle Ages, the two countries have been at war with each other, and their relations have alternated between periods of detente and tension. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and repeatedly demonstrated military force in the Baltic Sea, Sweden sent out a brochure to the population for the first time since the end of the Cold War with the words: "If war breaks out ...".
To this day, the Swedes receive this leaflet with detailed instructions on how to prepare for war. It feels like the "pre-war time," as politicians like Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk call the current reality. The time between: there is no war, but there is no real peace either.
There are three airplanes in a production hall the size of a football field. Here, the company is converting a Bombardier Global business jet into a military aircraft with the GlobalEye system. There are four flags of the customer countries on the wall: Pakistan, Thailand, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, but not a single European one. Two white posters with the word "reserved" hang nearby. Swedish business diplomacy: the message is simple — we want to hang a few more flags here. But which ones?
"We would be happy to place the German flag here," says one of the engineers. The press secretary immediately clarifies: of course, it's up to the politicians to decide. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has already expressed interest.: Germany does not have such a surveillance system yet. According to Pistorius, GlobalEye is now "among the main contenders."
For Saab, Germany is the most important market in Europe after Sweden. Together with the Munich-based AI and drone startup Helsing, the company has integrated an AI agent into the Gripen fighter, which is supposed to help the pilot. Saab produces the Taurus cruise missile jointly with the German company Diehl Defense. And these are not the only projects that are being implemented in Germany.
So the calls for greater European cooperation are motivated not only by selfless concern for a "sovereign Europe," but also by the company's own pragmatic interests. Saab wants to discover new markets through partnerships with local firms — in the defense industry, this is often the only way to gain a foothold in another European country. At the same time, Johansson warns that the technological independence of the state must still be preserved.
What should Europe look like, then, between private interests and a common deterrent system? It turns out that cooperation is possible only when it coincides with one's own benefit? "There will be a coalition of willing people in Europe," says Johansson.
That such a coalition can sometimes turn into problems is demonstrated by the former European "showcase" project FCAS (Future Combat Air System), an air combat system of the future that Germany, France and Spain intend to develop together. Now the multibillion-dollar project is at risk of failure due to friction between its participants, primarily between Airbus and Dassault.
Johansson says that he would not like to evaluate this project, but then nevertheless undertakes to comment on FCAS: "It seems to me that it rarely happens when politicians manage to simply agree to 'do something together.'" Industry needs to be able to work together. Can Saab become a new partner of the project? "Our doors are always open," Johansson replies. In a European way.
