Sweden says it's set to hit NATO's defence spending target — unlike Canada

Within two years, Sweden — the formerly neutral Nordic country that's soon to join NATO — will meet the western military alliance's often-debated defence spending target of two per cent of gross domestic product. 

The country's top military commander, Gen. Micael Bydén, told CBC News that Sweden is also restructuring its armed forces to make it more of a "wartime organization" to be ready in case the conflict with Russia escalates.

Sweden's approach to the crisis triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine stands in sharp contrast with that of Canada — which has no plan to hit the NATO spending target, is struggling to recruit new military members and lacks a clear consensus on what the primary role of the Armed Forces should be.

Sweden and historically non-aligned Finland chose last spring to apply for membership in the western military alliance at the same time.

"It has been obvious for quite a few years. We are heading towards a new world order with developments which [are] going ... in the negative direction," Bydén told CBC News in a recent interview.

Sweden's application set in motion a series of sober decisions in Stockholm — on top of the sober decisions the country had taken already following Russia's annexation of Crimea.

The first was an explicit order from the Swedish cabinet to Bydén to meet the defence spending benchmark. 

Bydén was careful to avoid comparisons in his interview with CBC News and focused his remarks on what Sweden has accomplished and wants to accomplish.

The more he spoke, however, the more clear the contrasts with Canada became.

When asked what Sweden brings to NATO, he replied, "We bring modern military thinking. We bring expertise fighting in harsh conditions up north. We bring capabilities with high technology. So we're not the ones bringing in volume here, but we bring in quality, and NATO knows this."

The country also maintains a relatively broad set of advanced capabilities — from modern, high-end warplanes (Saab's Gripen competed to be the replacement for Canada's CF-18s) to advanced missile and air defence — supported by a large, sophisticated home-grown defence industry.

On paper, the Swedish military (with 24,000 active duty and 31,000 reserves, with firm plans to grow to 100,000 total) is slightly smaller than the Canadian Armed Forces (68,000 active duty and 27,000 reserves, with a goal to grow to 101,500). Sweden, however, re-introduced conscription in 2018 and the restructuring allows the country to scale up quickly, if necessary.

"When I refer to the 'wartime organization,' that is [what] we could [have] after a political decision for mobilization," Bydén said. "We could fill the wartime organization with the conscripts."

The introduction of conscription in Canada during the last two world wars set off political crises in this country, the effects of which were felt for years.