Sweden, whose authorities have warned that the country needs to prepare for the risk of war, has announced a 100 million kronor ($10 million) investment to inspect and renovate its civil defense shelters.
Sweden and other European countries have announced plans to increase defense spending in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and, more recently, amid doubts about U.S. President Donald Trump’s commitment to NATO.
The Nordic country has 64,000 defense bunkers — more than almost any other country in the world — with space for about seven million people. Since Sweden joined NATO in March 2024, its Civil Defense Agency (MSB) has stepped up inspections of the shelters, some of which are large enough to accommodate thousands of people at once.
According to the MSB, civil defense shelters provide protection from shock waves and bomb fragments, blasts and heat waves from nuclear weapons, radioactive fallout, and gases from chemical and biological weapons. The government is also investing in improving the capacity of emergency services to handle conflicts, strengthening cybersecurity and replenishing medical supplies. The MSB said it had begun a major project to modernize nuclear shelters, a task expected to take “two to three years.” Work has so far begun on 25 of the 80 particularly large shelters, it said.
In 2025, the agency plans to replace filters that help protect people in shelters from chemical and radiological weapons.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristerson said in January that Sweden “is not at war, but there is no peace either,” citing hybrid attacks, suspected sabotage in the Baltic Sea and a proxy conflict fought on its soil. Last week, he announced plans to increase defense spending by $30 billion over the next decade.
Stockholm cut military spending after the end of the Cold War, but began to increase it again when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea in 2014. Authorities reactivated Sweden’s “total defense” strategy – which combines military and civil defense activities – in 2015, and began further strengthening it after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Among other things, the government created the position of Minister of Civil Protection to work alongside the Minister of Armed Forces, so that civilians can be mobilized as well as the military. Scandinavian neighbor Denmark has separately announced it will buy an undisclosed number of Mistral air defense missiles manufactured by French firm MBDA. It was also stated that they will buy 130 armored vehicles from the Finnish company Patria for $275 million, reports Reuters.
