UPDATE 4-Sweden to buy navy frigates from France for over $4 billion to boost Baltic defence

Sweden will order four navy frigates from France's Naval Group in a $4 billion deal that will triple its air defence ‌capacity as the new NATO member focuses on security threats in the Baltic Sea, its prime minister said on Tuesday.

Sweden will order four navy frigates from France's Naval Group in a $4 billion deal that will triple its air defence ‌capacity as the new NATO member focuses on security threats in the Baltic Sea, its prime minister said on Tuesday. Sweden is racing to build up its military in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the Nordic country's subsequent accession to NATO, with the new frigates representing a significant expansion of maritime ‌defence capabilities.

The purchase of the French Defence and Intervention (FDI) frigate model will be Sweden's biggest military investment since the 1980s, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson ‌said. "The Baltic Sea has never in the modern era been as exposed, questioned and contested as it is now," Kristersson told a press conference on board the Swedish naval corvette HMS Harnosand, docked in central Stockholm for the occasion.

"With this decision I am convinced Sweden is contributing to making the Baltic Sea considerably safer in the future." Adding the frigates to ⁠the naval ​arsenal will alone triple Sweden's air defence ⁠capabilities, Kristersson said. French President Emmanuel Macron said on X that Sweden's decision reflected the countries' mutual trust, after France agreed to buy Saab's GlobalEye airborne early warning and control systems and ⁠Paris invited Sweden to take part in talks on European nuclear deterrence.

CONTROL OF THE BALTIC SEA Johan Norlen, Chief of the Swedish Navy, said the frigates were important ​in keeping the Baltic Sea open for civilian and military transport to Finland and the Baltic States in case of an escalated conflict.

"With our ⁠corvettes and frigates we are building naval operational control in the Baltic Sea together with our NATO allies," he said. Sweden is also building a new class of submarines, which Poland is in ⁠the ​process of buying. The first of the four frigates, which will be the Swedish navy's biggest ships, is expected to be delivered in 2030. The total cost is estimated at some 40 billion crowns ($4.25 billion), depending on exact weapon systems.

The government has requested that several weapons systems developed in Sweden, ⁠including by Saab, can be utilised by the vessels, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said. The Swedish government, one of Ukraine's staunchest backers in Europe, has ⁠said it expects to reach NATO ⁠targets for military spending of 3.5% of GDP in 2030, several years ahead of the alliance's deadline.

Naval Group won the race in competition with a joint bid by Britain's Babcock and Saab, as well as one from Spain's Navantia. ($1 = ‌9.4037 Swedish crowns)