Sweden Buys Attack Drones for the First Time
A contract worth 350 million Swedish kronor has been signed with a Danish supplier, with delivery expected in 2027. The military states that this is a natural part of modern warfare.
A contract worth 350 million Swedish kronor has been signed with a Danish supplier, with delivery expected in 2027. The military states that this is a natural part of modern warfare.
Sweden's military is, for the first time in its history, acquiring a fleet of attack drones, as confirmed by Swedish public television SVT. The contract, valued at 350 million Swedish kronor (approximately 191 million Brazilian reais), was signed on Monday with a Danish supplier, with delivery of the aircraft planned for 2027.
The decision comes amid the war in Ukraine, which has been ongoing for four and a half years and has become known in public discourse as the 'drone war.' According to G1 Globo, the Swedish military has previously only operated reconnaissance and surveillance drones, but now it is introducing a system designed to destroy enemy targets for the first time.
The purchase is seen as a direct response to the Russian threat, with examples from the war in Ukraine and the US-Iran conflict in the Middle East demonstrating how modern warfare increasingly relies on attack drones.
Lennart Widerström, head of the Swedish Army's Ground Combat School, told SVT: "We want this capability because it is a natural part of modern warfare."
Jonas Lotsne, head of army equipment at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, explained the concept of the new weaponry: "This is a completely new chapter. (...) One aircraft conducts reconnaissance to locate a target, and one or more are used to attack it."
Danish media DR reports that the supplier's name has not been publicly disclosed.
Although Sweden's procurement is focused on the Baltic and Northern Europe, the event occurs amid heightened security activity across the continent. In Pula, a Ukrainian citizen was arrested on Wednesday in connection with the 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions, confirming that European security issues are increasingly intersecting with Croatia's coast.
The war in Ukraine, now in its fifth year, continued today: a Russian drone attack on a bus in Kherson killed four people and injured four others, according to Governor Oleksandr Prokudin. Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defence claims it shot down 453 Ukrainian drones overnight.
