Wait until 5:30 to invade Sweden

Darth Fanboy · Post by **Darth Fanboy** » 2003-08-19 12:28am

Budget Squeeze Prompts Swedish Army to Go 9-To-5
Mon August 18, 2003 08:35 AM ET
STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Sweden's armed forces will operate only during office hours for the rest of the year to cut costs, military headquarters said on Friday.

They will also cut fighter plane patrols to a minimum, keep navy ships in port, mothball armored vehicles and stop using large caliber live ammunition during exercises.

The center-left Social Democratic government has told the military to cut spending by 450 million crowns ($54.89 million) this year as part of an overall effort to keep the budget from falling into deficit.

Militarily non-aligned Sweden spends just over 40 billion crowns per year on defense, or some 1.6 percent of gross domestic product.

A parliamentary defense commission said in a recent report that the likelihood of Sweden facing a military threat in the foreseeable future was very small.

HemlockGrey · Post by **HemlockGrey** » 2003-08-19 12:41am

Now would be an excellant time for the Danes to restore their Scandanavian Hegemony. Vive la Kalmar!

Post by **Beowulf** » 2003-08-19 12:54am

note to self: start world domination plan with sweden at night

Post by **Gandalf** » 2003-08-19 01:41am

I can see it now, the Swede's will be pinned down fighting somewhere, and then you hear a siren, signalling quitting time. They all just get up and walk away, except for a few who are on overtime.

BlkbrryTheGreat · Post by **BlkbrryTheGreat** » 2003-08-19 02:21am

I'm actually suprised they spend that much money on their military anyway. With Sweden as mountanious as it is, they would probably just be better off using the Swiss approach to national defense, after all it would be cheaper and the odds of them actually facing an invasion are miniscule (at this point anyway).

Faram · Post by **Faram** » 2003-08-19 04:42am

BlkbrryTheGreat wrote:I'm actually suprised they spend that much money on their military anyway. With Sweden as mountanious as it is, they would probably just be better off using the Swiss approach to national defense, after all it would be cheaper and the odds of them actually facing an invasion are miniscule (at this point anyway).

Same story as everywhere else.

Army we don't need no stinking army.

Spend huge amount of cas on the officers and burocrats.

Airforce gets some cool toys and navy has all sort of hitech killemall subs and stuff.
Poor ol blody army gets nuthing.

ANd BTW Mountains is few and far between in Sweden, there is some in the Nw to NNW part of sweden but the real feature of Sweden is Forests MILES of forest.

A typical ride on a highway is like this.

Leave town, Fores more Forest and yet more Forest, a small city. Rinse and repeat.

Perfect for camoflage.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2003-08-19 02:08pm

This almost happed last year with the nations navy as I recall, though that plan would have made it permanent.

Posbi · Post by **Posbi** » 2003-08-19 04:27pm

BlkbrryTheGreat wrote:I'm actually suprised they spend that much money on their military anyway. With Sweden as mountanious as it is, they would probably just be better off using the Swiss approach to national defense, after all it would be cheaper and the odds of them actually facing an invasion are miniscule (at this point anyway).

Uhm, their defense budget is about 4.88 billion USD, that's not that much for a 1st World nation, you know...

Wicked Pilot · Post by **Wicked Pilot** » 2003-08-19 08:44pm

Most first rate nations don't need large armies and navies unless they have interest overseas they are willing to fight for. If the United States didn't care about the Middle East, Korea, and Europe, we could do something very similiar and still be just as safe. Of course I would be out of a job and that would piss me off.