Sweden Joins NATO Response Force

Sweden has joined the NATO Response Force (NRF), after the NATO allies approved its participation on 14 October. This makes it the third NATO partner country to do so, after Finland and Ukraine. Georgia aims to do the same in 2015.

The country will make its initial mark on the NRF with participation in the forthcoming Steadfast Jazz 2013 exercise in northern Europe.

"I welcome Sweden's participation. Our relationship [with the country] is already strong, and this will make it even stronger," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in a statement announcing the decision.

Sweden is a longstanding member in NATO's Partnership for Peace programme and has been a consistent contributing partner to allied operations. It will now participate in Steadfast Jazz's culminating training activities, which take place in Latvia, Poland and other allied countries between 2 and 9 November.

While Stockholm is sending only staff officers to the exercise, NATO said it has offered "substantial forces" for the NRF's next four rotations, including aircraft, ships and land forces.

"Sweden has an impressive array of military capabilities: these are muscular assets they're offering us," a NATO source told IHS Jane's on 17 October. "Their troops are well trained, their equipment is modern and they've got the money to participate in a serious way in the NRF's activities. This is only positive news."
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