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Brandi Vincent
The Department of Protection is hunting at Swedish armed forces technological innovation to see if it satisfies U.S. military services needs at a time when Sweden may be poised to join the NATO alliance.
During their first global vacation in two a long time, officials from the Pentagon’s Overseas Comparative Tests (FCT) method — which hunts for cutting-edge, non-U.S.-built merchandise with a higher technological innovation readiness stage to deploy for Protection Office apps — just lately visited the Scandinavian country. That excursion also unfolded as Sweden considers signing up for NATO — and likely bringing its spectacular know-how portfolio to the military alliance.
Sweden has been a very long-time protection lover with the United States, but has remained outside the house the NATO stability pact. Nevertheless, Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine has shifted community feeling in Sweden and prompted a reconsideration of whether or not the country should really join NATO.
“As all people claims, it is a political selection and no one particular has manufactured up their intellect still. I believe Sweden, as a compact- or mid-sized region, has fairly brief connections among the military services troubles and the technological innovation. And we are recognised to be a single of the world’s most impressive nations. We have some best-notch technological know-how,” Swedish Armed Forces Chief Scientist, Col. Rickard Stridh instructed FedScoop last 7 days at the House of Sweden, which is located in Washington and properties the Swedish Embassy.
Stridh was among the numerous officials who spoke at the 18th U.S.-Sweden Defense Sector Convention, which was hosted by the Nationwide Defense Industrial Affiliation (NDIA).
Bryant Streett, director of mission prototypes in the Pentagon’s place of work of the undersecretary of protection for research and engineering, mentioned that Sweden has been a person of the FCT program’s best sources of modern technologies. He pointed out that the Swedish aerospace and protection corporation Saab AB “is possibly the business that’s been the most successful with FCT in excess of the last 40 years” in terms of the range of funded tasks.
“I think we have funded 80-in addition FCT jobs from Sweden about the many years. In excess of $200 million invested by [the office of the secretary of defense] for these assignments, and maybe 30-additionally of these have led to a procurement or to fielding. And that is with a spending plan, a procurement acquisition, of like $1.5 billion. So, Sweden has finished very properly around the many years because they’ve experienced actually good systems that have been better in many situations than we have right here,” Streett reported.
Mandated by Congress with yearly funding, FCT is a method by which DOD can husband or wife with allies to “save cash on the improvement of technologies and systems in which the international corporation has by now invested a substantial amount of money of money” to acquire the procedure, in accordance to Streett.
Officials are on the lookout for prototypes to check and likely get that can provide capabilities a U.S. navy services may well not but have — or solutions to current options that are less costly or far better.
While hypersonic missiles, for example, are further than the scope of typical FCT jobs, Streett explained the staff is on the lookout for one thing along the traces of “a chip that goes into one thing, it could be a new piece of managing machines for logistics, it could be a device that screens chemical agents or radiation.”
He and his colleagues saw some of those people systems on their vacation to Sweden earlier this thirty day period.
The FCT officers put in a day with Saab to talk about electronic warfare and maritime systems, and and also satisfied with 20 other organizations.
“Just to give you an notion, there had been two organizations that make significant-power metal, a 3rd that employs additive manufacturing for 3D printing substantial-toughness steel for actually rough programs. [There was] a handheld chemical detector … radiation detectors, and an emergency oxygen program that allowed a re-breathing capacity so you don’t have to consider a giant canister of oxygen where ever you go,” Streett mentioned.
He famous that the group also visited Finland, Norway and Denmark on their trip to have interaction those people nations about technological know-how.
Finland is also considering joining NATO in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
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