Sweden wants Larger Warships and More Submarines

As I highlighted in March 2024, Sweden's March 7, 2024 entry into NATO has accelerated Sweden's overall military procurement. With the publication of a document (298 pages in Swedish) by the Swedish Parliamentary Defense Committee, Sweden is now looking at long-term programs for the 2030s.

According to Naval News, this report includes a new class of frigates for participation in NATO Standing Naval Forces, and a new submarine class to replace the Gotland boats in the late 2030s.

A30 submarine project

image: SAAB. The Blekinge-class will stop at two, with a follow-on class
 planned
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To recap - Sweden's A26 Blekinge-class SSKs, which were ordered in 2015, will finally be delivered in 2027 and 2028, and replace the two 38-year-old A17 Vastergotland boats, the HSwMS Sondermanland and the mothballed HSwMS Ostergotland.

The Royal Swedish Navy's (RSwN) three A19 Gotland class submarines are now 28-years old, and should decommission in the late 2030s. The Swedish parliament is therefore considering building four A30 submarines after the Blekinges are completed, for delivery after 2038. The fourth sub will expand the Royal Swedish Navy's (RSwN's) active submarine force to 6 boats. 

The A30 could be a smaller (less capable?) submarine than the A26, but could also carry more weapons.

New Frigates?

image: Finnish Navy. Pohjanmma-class
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As I also highlighted in my March 2024 article, Sweden decided to construct four new corvettes in 2020. These are the Luleå-class corvettes (named after small coastal towns) which are expected to be delivered from 2030. 

These warships will be larger than the 640-tonnes displacement Visbys. They were initially planned as enlarged Visbys. But a clean sheet design was chosen and these ships could emerge as a cousin of Singapore's 1,200-tonne displacement Independence-class Littoral Mission Vessel (LMV).  SAAB contributed to the basic design of the LMV, and also provided composite superstructures. 

The Visbys will now undergo an mid life update (MLU) to remain in service to 2040.

The Swedish Parliamentary Defense Committee now advocates a follow-on procurement of surface combatants, with deliveries starting in the latter half of the 2030s. Naval News has suggested that a variant of the Finnish Pohjanmaa-class multirole large corvettes (117m long ships with a displacement of 4,300 tonnes) is a prime candidate for this new class of warships. As the Pohjanmaa class recently entered production, with the last ship scheduled for completion in mid-2028,  Sweden could to take advantage of the 'hot' construction yard with a follow-on order.

image: Finnish Navy. Pohjanmaa-class production schedule
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Note that Sweden does not have large naval shipyards, and SAAB had to build the hull of the 4,000 tonne displacement SIGINT ship HSwMS Artemis in Poland.

Update - 2/05/2024

Naval News has posted a YouTube video interview with the Chief of the Royal Swedish Navy on the sidelines of the Sea Air Space 2024 convention and she confirms that Sweden has already integrated into NATO and is prepared to join the NATO standing MCM and Maritime groups.

Naval News interview with the Chief of the Royal Swedish Navy
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