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| Europe |
| Financial crisis rocks Swedish military |
| 2008-01-15 |
| Sweden's armed forces are mulling extensive cutbacks as a deepening economic crisis looms in 2008. The cost of running the Armed Forces is expected to exceed the military budget by between 1 and 1.5 billion kronor, Svenska Dagbladet reports. Lietenant General Jan Salestrand confirmed that the military was experiencing considerable financial problems. "I want to underline the fact that we are sticking to our allocation and looking after our finances - but this also means that we have to put measures in place to reduce our ambitions and operations," he told Svenska Dagbladet. The military is weighing up drastic action in its bid to balance the books, with new directives scheduled to be sent out to its various units next week. Measures under consideration include: terminating the contracts of soldiers in the Nordic Battlegroup in August; grounding 40 percent of fighter plane pilots; mothballing half of all JAS Gripen planes; reducing the size of military units; introducing shorter training periods for new recruits. "We underestimated the costs of developing the Armed Forces into a mission-based force," said Jan Salestrand in a statement. |
| Posted by:lotp |
| #11 Well, it's not as if you can compete with PakiWakiLand on price. |
| Posted by: Abdominal Snowman 2008-01-15 23:06 |
| #10 Guess the 'Rent-a-Troop' route of Fiji, Ireland, Pakland etc is not in the plan. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2008-01-15 17:36 |
| #9 They have money for Hamas, but not for their own security. Swedenistan, here we come. |
| Posted by: Gromosh Forkbeard2610 2008-01-15 17:34 |
| #8 Swedish DailyPaper. We know. It is the basis of the joke. And as for hot, 451 degrees Farenheit, IIRC. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-01-15 13:59 |
| #7 They'll cut it back in true Euro style - after all, why maintain a working military when the despised US is guaranteeing your protection? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2008-01-15 12:53 |
| #6 Svenska Dagbladet hot? Swedish DailyPaper. Did read it on occasion and it's not so hot. Except if used as kindling in a stove. |
| Posted by: twobyfour 2008-01-15 11:47 |
| #5 Svenska Dagbladet sounds like she is hot. Hubba hubba! Hey, is the Swedish military funded by the Swedish government or is it a separate corporation like the PLA in China? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2008-01-15 11:12 |
| #4 Svenska Dagbladet sounds like she is hot. |
| Posted by: Excalibur 2008-01-15 09:27 |
| #3 The Swedes won't protect their own women from muzzie rape packs so I guess fighting an outside enemy is out of the question. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2008-01-15 08:34 |
| #2 You still need the Gripens for filming the SAAB ads. Although I suppose you could use computer generated graphics. |
| Posted by: moody blues 2008-01-15 08:26 |
| #1 Why not just disband the military altogether? That would solve the problem permanently. |
| Posted by: gromky 2008-01-15 01:42 |