During the first half of next year, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) hopes to sign a contract with a supplier of four frigates. This is a paradigm shift for the Swedish Navy, according to Linus Fast, a researcher at the Swedish Defence Research Institute (FOI).
We are moving away from a previous light fleet whose only main purpose was to stop a so-called invasion force that was expected to come towards Swedish waters, he says.
Never had
Internationally, frigates are used to protect aircraft carriers and naval transports against threats from the air, on the surface or below the surface. Sweden has not had such large combat ships since the last destroyers were decommissioned in the 1980s.
Sweden's largest warships are currently the Visby corvettes, which are 72 meters long. Frigates, by comparison, are 120 meters long and can stay further out to sea. The ships can be deployed in a NATO operation far beyond the Swedish immediate area, if necessary.
This type of ship is primarily used for defense in open seas such as the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, says Fast.
The biggest difference from corvettes is that frigates can be used as a floating air defense, and with their own air defense missiles, protect an area – not just their own ship – from missiles, aircraft and drones.
It is a way of creating what is called area air defense, where, simply put, you raise a protective umbrella over the ships you are supposed to protect.
New threats
In addition, they may be better at hunting submarines, not least because the frigates can have a helicopter on board.
Instead of the navy defending Sweden from invasion, its main task will be to keep the sea routes to Sweden and across the Baltic Sea open, so that reinforcements can be brought in and wounded and refugees can be taken out.
Because frigates are large and expensive, they are also important targets for an adversary. At the same time, modern frigates should be able to stop, for example, the type of anti-ship missiles that sank the Russian flagship Moskva in the Black Sea.
Changing drone threats pose a challenge, but there are technical solutions to deal with them too, says Fast.
A frigate is a warship that is between a destroyer and a corvette and has a displacement of 1,000–5,000 tons.
During the sailing era, it was a smaller and faster-sailing ship than the liners.
Frigates are used to protect shipping at sea and can combat submarines, other ships, and aerial threats.
Sweden modified destroyers after World War II and reclassified them as frigates. The last ones were taken out of service in the late 1970s.
Source: NE
