Sweden's Armored Forces [Explained]

[Music] for sweden the return of war to eastern europe and russia's annexation of crimea shifted the calculus with regards to his armed forces the end of the cold war was supposed to be the end of history the beginning of a new era of peace following the triumph of liberalism in its aftermath the swedish army was rapidly reduced in scope through the 1990s and early 2000s but at the same time they also received a new round of modernization with the introduction of top of the line platforms like the cv-90 infantry fighting vehicle and the leper 2 main battle tank now with nato and russia staring each other down in the baltics the swedish armed forces is putting forth plans to expand its rapid reaction capabilities increase readiness and bring back the division in this video we're taking you through sweden's rapid reaction brigades with a more in-depth look at their tank and armored infantry unit organization equipment and doctrine i'm your host brendan and this is battle order first i'd like to thank our patreon supporters who allow us to cover more interesting but less popular topics if you want to help battle order grow and get a bunch of perks including early access to videos and patron only chat on our public discord server consider supporting us at patreon.com battle order but on to the topic at hand when the swedish army implemented its rapid reaction organization plan for 2014 its professional forces were reorganized into eight maneuver battalions and a number of independent units they constitute sweden's high readiness combat force which is complemented by numerous support battalions reserve battalions and home guard territorial defense battalions that bring its total force structure closer to 70 battalions the focus of this video is sweden's mechanized battalions which consist of a combination of main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles carrying armored infantry sweden's full-sized mechanized battalions include the 41st and 42nd battalions under the scarabori regiment the 191st and 192nd battalions under the north bolton regiment and the 72nd battalion under the south scania regiment additionally just in january 2020 part of the 18th battle group stationed in gaultland was reflagged as the 181st mechanized battalion although this battalion is about half the size of the other mechanized battalions during peacetime mechanized battalions are grouped into regiments and trained at their home garrisons but when activated for war they reorganize and deploy into the second and third brigades when this happens each brigade receives a headquarters and separate recon company from the regiments these staff are each supported by a brigade command company detailed from the command regiment as its maneuver elements each brigade then gets an infantry battalion from the skyrobori south scania and nor bolton regiments second brigade ends up with two mechanized and one light mechanized battalion while the third brigade gets three mechanized battalions each brigade is then supported by an artillery battalion an air defense battalion an engineer battalion and a logistics battalion attached from their respective regiments however this won't last forever with a threat of getting caught in the middle of a conflict between nato and russia growing the swedish armed forces plan to expand their forces with a refocus on larger scale operations as indicated by their most recent budget requests second brigade would be reorganized into the fourth mechanized brigade in huevde while third brigade would become the 19th norland mechanized brigade in bolden meanwhile a completely new seventh mechanized brigade probably based on the south scania regiment would be formed in raving hit while the motorized first infantry brigade would be formed in maladan the galton battle group will also be strengthened these brigades may be integrated into a new division if mobilized sweden's first division since it dissolved its last one in 2004 but back to the present the real punching power of sweden's rapid reaction forces comes from its mechanized battalions very similar to an old american combined arms battalion each swedish battalion is equipped with an equal mix of main battle tanks and infantry fighting vehicles with organic fire support recon logistics and pioneers they consist of one battalion headquarters one staff and support company two tank companies two armored infantry companies and one logistics company starting from the top the battalion hq includes 29 personnel with a battalion commander their deputy a sergeant major and several staff officers and supporting personnel the staff and support company meanwhile includes the command platoon which supports battalion staff officers man's command posts and provides signal support to the hq the staff and trains platoon which provides logistical support to the company a reconnaissance platoon with four cv 90 ifvs split into a platoon hq in four sections two mortar platoons each with four mjolnir 120 millimeter self-propelled mortars based on the cv90 and an anti-aircraft platoon with four 40 millimeter self-propelled anti-aircraft guns also based on the cv-90 chassis next up the logistics company provides sustainment and mobility support to the battalion it includes a company hq and trains a fuel and ammunition supply platoon a repair platoon with one repair team per maneuver company among other elements a medical platoon with four teams manning ambulance variants of the bv410 tracked apc and lastly a pioneer platoon which provides mobility and demolition support to the battalion among other things it includes three cv-90s carrying three pioneer sections as well as an armored bridge layer based on the leopard 2. and now on to what everyone's been waiting for the maneuver first the primary offensive capability of the mechanized battalion are its tank companies the main feature of these companies is sweden's main battle tank the strideswagen 122 a variant of germany's improved leopard 2a5 it's equipped with a 120 millimeter smoothbore tank gun as its main armament and crewed by four soldiers each tank company consists of a staff and logistics platoon commanding and supporting three tank platoons the former includes two tanks one for the company commander and one for their deputy the rest of the platoon comes under the separate administrative control of a platoon commander and deputy commander who ride in a ford command variant of the cv90 they're in charge of service and support elements in the company each company is supported by ford observers with their own cv-90 they're equipped with sensors and laser rangefinders to aid in calling in fire missions in support of the company integrating fires is key to combined arms doctrine as indirect fires create situations where friendly forces can maneuver and limits the enemy's ability to employ countermeasures previously the dedicated ford command and ford observation variants of the cv90 were only armed with a machine gun however we've been told that now regardless of specialty function most cv90s will be equipped with a 40 millimeter bofors autocannon in the future in terms of logistical support the swedes are unique each company depending on the parent unit weather conditions and terrain can be supported by two bv410 armored carriers with a flatbed rear module rather than the standard cargo trucks similarly the swedes use a third bv410 ambulance for all-terrain medical evacuation unlike the cargo variant the ambulance variant seems to be more universal amongst the companies these tracked articulated apcs have all-terrain capabilities this means that each company has a limited logistics and medevac capability that is amphibious can deal with harsher terrain and snow better than regular trucks and are protected against rifle fire mines and shrapnel and lastly maintenance support for the company is provided by the maintenance variant of the cv90 the strf 9040 dsg short for the drift storts group or the operation support group this vehicle carries the company's chief technician as well as a number of mechanics the company also has a variant of the german berga panzer iii bufo to allow for recovery of immobilized tanks and armored vehicles under fire all of this supports the company's close combat elements each platoon consists of three tanks crewed by a tank commander gunner loader and driver with the platoon leader acting as the commander of the first tank and the deputy platoon leader of commanding the third tank this gives each swedish tank company 11 mbts in total or 22 for the entire mechanized battalion and now on to the armored infantry companies which support the tank's mission with infantry fighting vehicles and dismounted infantry the companies are organized very similarly consisting of a staff and logistics platoon and three armored infantry platoons the staff in logistics platoon's structure is almost identical with some minor differences first the company commander and their deputy are transported in strf 9040s rather than tanks second rather than a tank-based armored recovery vehicle the armed infantry company is equipped with one based on the cv-90 at the platoon level like in the tank companies the armored infantry also have three vehicles the platoon further breaks down into a platoon headquarters and three infantry groups each with their own ifv lettered e f and g the platoon commander their deputy platoon commander and a vehicle commander command the vehicles for f g and e respectively in some units the platoon leader gets a spare vehicle commander that can take over the vehicle if they dismount however perhaps more interesting is a spare ncl called a nastrites lidare translated literally as close combat leader this nco is a dedicated dismounted commander who on the orders of the platoon leader takes command of the dismounted element separate from the vehicles this allows the platoon leader to stay mounted and maintain a closer control over the vehicles while the groups are dismounted depending on the unit the dismounted commander could also be one of the squad leaders given the extra duty as for those infantry groups each one of them is split into a mounted and dismounted element the mounted element includes a driver and gunner who functionally are controlled by their respective vehicle commanders the dismounted element meanwhile consists of six soldiers the group leader typically ranks fury or over furrier being intermediate ncls with some time in grade they're typically armed with an ak-5c rifle a derivative of the fnfnc with an m203 grenade launcher they're assisted by a deputy group leader who typically ranks corporal the first rank attained after completing squad leader training then there is also an anti-tank gunner anti-tank loader machine gunner and a rifleman doubling as a combat life saver the swedish run a weapons locker concept where multiple weapon systems of differing capabilities may be employed depending on the situation the group can take out any combination of machine guns and at weapons with the platoon commanders being able to customize the layout to their liking for anti-tank options the at gunner and loader may man a carl gustav or coilless rifle alternatively they could leave the carl g behind and act as rifleman if the group needs to be more mobile or it's unnecessary in this case they may or may not be armed with at4 disposable anti-tank weapons which are essentially one-shot versions of the carl g munition other personnel in the squad like rifleman or leadership can also carry at4s additionally end-law short-range fire and forget anti-tank guided missiles are available to substitute the at4s held in the battalion logistics company this provides the group a reliable tank killer capability as even the carl gustav munitions would be of questionable effectiveness against most modern main battle tanks from the front being a force that may be called to block enemy movement in support of tank operations each ifv also has several anti-tank mines these can be employed by the dismounted element to deny area 2 or delay the advance of enemy mechanized forces as for automatic weapons the machine gunner can either take out the ksp90 the swedish version of the mini-me light machine gun chambered in 556 or the ksp 58 which is their version of the fn mag chambered in 762. if the mag is taken out the last rifleman would act as an assistant however we've also seen numerous videos of groups dismounting with two light machine guns and the instagram manager for roma company the armored industry company stationed on gaultland states each group has two light machine guns and one general purpose machine gun at their disposal depending on the situation generally speaking and training footage we've seen the line machine gun seems to be preferred for restrictive terrain and when fighting mounted while the general purpose machine gun is preferred in open country with longer sight lines another new weapon that's hit the swedish army is the ak-4d designated marksman rifle a version of sweden's g3 variant it provides the group a slightly longer range and more precise fires but is not utilized here as a dedicated sniper rifle we've been told the groups have the option of giving it to the rifleman or deputy group leader if necessary as per swedish doctrine armored infantry support the action of tanks and enable their maneuver they may do this through direct support protecting open flanks clearing captured terrain and protecting supply lines in a meeting engagement against an enemy mechanized force the infantry may also be used to fix or delay forces with the cv90 anti-armor weapons and anti-tank mines while tanks counter-attack and target the enemy's vulnerable rear areas the dismounted capabilities of the armored infantry are necessary to perform certain functions such as in the defense or in restricted terrain however at the battalion level the focus of the armored infantry is on supporting the tanks meanwhile at the platoon level and lower the main task of dismounts is to protect and enable the infantry fighting vehicle this was a key shift from the cold war era focus on the dismounted fight when armored infantry were transported in the less capable panzer bandwagon 302 armored personnel carrier the change was likely due to the adoption of the more capable stridsfordon 90 which is able to engage in close combat against mechanized forces in a way the legacy platform could not the most clear indication of the shift was in the change of the platoon structure itself during the cold war era platoons had a dedicated vehicle commander who would take over command of the apc's while the platoon commander and their deputy dismounted this suggested a stronger emphasis on the dismounted fight because the platoon commander and platoon deputy could exercise more direct control over the dismounted infantry while the vehicles maneuver to directly support the infantry protect a flank or conduct an independent mission this is the opposite of the current situation where the platoon commander exercises more direct control over the vehicles and often delegates command of the dismounts to an nco additionally it's very common to see swedish armored infantry shooting from the rear hatches of the vehicle while moving there's space for four soldiers to stand at the hatches at any time providing security and possibly returning fire this capability may allow the swedes to conduct higher tempo maneuvers since a tree can stay mounted for longer the mobility of the cv 90s and the leper2s aren't hampered as bad by the speed of dismounted inventory but of course there are downsides to fighting mounted rather than dismounted for example the effectiveness of the infantry's fire when the vehicle is moving at any sort of speed is questionable and they're unable to properly clear terrain while doing so this tactic is probably partially situational such as reacting to an ambush in close terrain or providing general security but it certainly represented more in swedish training than with their counterparts in the us army for example there are of course exceptions such as holding ground or fighting in restrictive and complex terrain or urban environments however even in defensive situations swedish doctrine places a premium on mobility to quickly mass and concentrate forces wherever the enemy may choose to attack a passive and static defense is not the calling card of the mechanized battalions who likely don't have the bayonet strength to excel at many of the dismount centric functions that the lighter forces with more infantry do as for how these units combine arms or pair tanks and infantry to make up for each arm's weaknesses the swedish system is much like what the american combined ours with tallinns were like before 2016. in a typical situation each tank and armored infantry company would trade a platoon with the opposite type of company so they'd end up with two companies with two tank platoons and one infantry platoon and two companies with one tank platoon and two infantry platoons in other more fleeting situations they can form one-to-one company pairs which would entail paring down to the group level in other words each tank being paired with its own ifv company teams can then be further reinforced with battalion and brigade assets depending on the mission this could include pioneers or even bridging assets from the battalion logistics company if the team needs mobility support on the battlefield similarly the company could receive brigade engineers as attachments or battalion anti-aircraft support if you enjoyed this look at sweden's mechanized battalions check out this video on canada's mechanized infantry an equivalent western force with similar doctrine but very different equipment we'll see you over there

Channel: Battle Order

Views: 220,069

Rating: 4.9395514 out of 5

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Id: 726jGATTrvU

Length: 18min 26sec (1106 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 25 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/BCMatsuyama]

New video on the organization of Sweden's Mechanized Battalions (equipped with main battle tanks and armored infantry) down to the squad level. Also included is a brief description of their rapid reaction brigade structure and future plans for new brigades (and bringing back the division echelon)

[u/Affectionate_Box8824]

Very interesting, thank you very much for your effort. Regarding the mounted infantry firing from the hatches of the fighting compartment: in the German army, and likely in the Swedish army as well, mechanized/armored infantry mounted in IFVs suppress enemy positions, especially crew-served ATGMs during a breakthrough, which is likely shown in this sequence. The infantry dismounts when necessary, but preferably they are able to break through the enemy frontline without dismounting in order to maintain the momentum of the attack. The remaining enemy units either retreat, surrender or are destroyed/mopped up by following units such as motorized infantry.