Sweden's refocus on national defence

Many nations are taking part in the Swedish exercise Aurora 2023. Deu Marfor is taking over the command of NATO maritime units.

Totalförsvar was the motto of the Swedish exercise Aurora 23 and translated means nothing less than total defence. Sweden gave expression to this term with the largest defence exercise on its own territory for 30 years, which took place from 24 April to 11 May. In total, more than 26,000 men and women took part.

Totalförsvar is a fixed term in the national defence plan, which sets out the cooperation between the military and civilian authorities and organisations in the event of a defence situation. Following the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014, Sweden placed national defence back centre stage. The defence concept should therefore be increasingly brought to the forefront of national awareness and understood as a task for society as a whole. Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine since last year was the final confirmation for Sweden that this refocusing was correct.