Sweden’s export of military arms reached its highest level ever according to the most recent report by the ISP, the official state monitor of arms exports in Sweden. The report from March 10 showed that arms exports were 29 billion SEK (€2.7 billion). This marks a further shift away from Sweden’s long standing presentation of itself as a neutral state when it comes to foreign policy and conflict — a facade which it previously maintained since 1812.
Sweden’s supposed neutrality has been contradicted since Sweden’s trade and collaboration with the Nazis during the Second World War. Even then, Sweden claimed to uphold an officially neutral state stance, while being the main contributor of iron and steel to Germany, and also allowing German arms to pass through its railways. This paradoxical history shows that Sweden has long feigned its neutrality to continue supporting its capitalist interests. Now, it seems to be shoving that image aside and laying bare its involvement in the violence of the global arms trade.
Sweden’s weapons export industry is strictly regulated by the state. All military trade needs explicit approval, on an individual basis in accordance with Swedish state responsibilities and ideals. However, there is not an equal scrutiny measure for military imports — state or private. Dagens ETC reported on March 25 that official state investigations showed that Sweden imported twice as many weapons from Israel as last year. This figure increased from 8 million SEK (€740,000) in 2023 to 18 million SEK (€1.7 million) in 2024. In spite of the historically minimal exports Sweden has approved to Israel due to its selective restrictions on arms exports, it clearly has no issue receiving them.
An order worth 390 million SEK (€28.5 million) was made in April 2024 by the Swedish Defence Forces for upgrading Swedish fighter jet targeting systems, to be installed by Saab, Sweden’s largest private defense company. However, neither Saab nor the Swedish Defense Forces publicly stated that this particular type of targeting system was manufactured by Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, an Israeli state owned military defense firm. The very same targeting systems currently being used for Israel’s brutal incursion in Gaza.
Additionally, according to Palestinagrupperna another longer-term contract with a Swedish subsidiary of the Israeli defense firm, Elbit, secured over 1.7 billion SEK (€157 million) for military equipment over a period of 10 years. Considering how these deals were carried out between public and private actors, along with Sweden’s lacking military import metrics, it seems that these massive contracts did not need to be included in the reported investigation completed by the state.
Whatever past remnants of neutrality that Sweden claimed to stand for are crumbling. Considering its increasing military trade and its entry into NATO in 2024, it is clear that this recent pattern of increased military spending and strategic alliances signifies Sweden is abandoning the image it has deliberately cultivated as the golden-haired child of formal national neutrality, paraded around the room for the past century. Its historical and contemporary trades reflect the hypocrisy of the Swedish state in acting as an emblem of peace and humanitarianism, while its military affairs denote a differing reality.
This increase in Sweden’s arms trade, along with, for example, Germany’s intention to extend its military spending, forms part of a wave of European militarisation anda direct support for the Israeli war industry. They reveal an entrenchment of European states in a web of capital masquerading behind safety and protection, especially amidst claims by the International Court of Justice that Israel’s is likely committing genocide against the people of Gaza. Sweden’s continued engagement with Israeli military firms reveals the hypocrisy of a state which has long positioned itself on ideals of peace and neutrality.
There is an old Swedish double-entendre war slogan, “En svensk tiger.” Literally translated as “A Swedish Tiger,” a pun on the Swedish word ‘tiger,’ which can refer both to the animal, but also to the act of remaining silent; equivalent to ‘loose lips sink ships,’ created to perpetuate neutrality and secrecy during WWII. What at first may appear to be a seemingly sly and watchful defensive position, may in actuality perhaps reveal itself to be a strong, cunning predator hunting from the shadows.
Sweden doesn’t seem to mind sinking its claws deeper into the global network of military capital and reaping the benefits of the blood drawn from the neck of genocide. Perhaps it will find itself surrounded by an ensemble of European militaristic animals ready to perform tricks in the circus of global imperial military power.
Although Sweden is often heralded by progressives and social democrats in the United States to be a beacon of successful social democracy and an ideal to strive for, the rise in military trade also proves that it is not excepted from actively participating in the violence of global capitalist imperialism. Rather it is part of the violent spectacle unfolding in Europe. American audiences may consider the Swedish tiger wonderful to admire from a distance, but it may appear wildly different from afar than it does up close. Sweden, flaunting the beautiful stripes of its robust welfare state and self-proclaimed history of neutrality, is contradicted by its sharp teeth, armed with Israeli laser targeting systems.