Stockholm (AFP) – Sweden, Finland, Norway, and Lithuania plan to beef up military capabilities around the Baltic Sea with a joint order for several hundred CV90 combat vehicles, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said Tuesday. Kristersson made the announcement at a joint press conference in Stockholm with his Lithuanian counterpart Gintautas Paluckas, following talks between the two.
“Our focus right now is on a potential coordinated acquisition of the CV90 infantry fighting vehicles with Sweden, Lithuania, Finland, and Norway together,” Kristersson said. “With a possible coordinated procurement, we will strengthen our shared military capabilities in the Baltic Sea region,” he added. The CV90 combat vehicle is made by BAE Systems Hagglunds in Ornskoldsvik, Sweden.
Kristersson gave no exact price for a future order. “We are at least discussing several hundreds of vehicles, and they are quite costly,” he stated. “On the other hand, we are expanding our military defence budgets,” he added.
At the end of March, Sweden announced it would increase defence spending by about 300 billion kronor ($30 billion) over the next decade. It said it aimed to boost its defence spending to 3.5 percent of GDP by 2030, up from the current 2.4 percent.
The Nordic country dropped two centuries of military non-alignment and applied for membership in NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, becoming its 32nd member in March 2024. US President Donald Trump has demanded that all NATO countries contribute at least five percent of GDP to their defence budgets.
© 2024 AFP
