Well, the Swedes, for whom prevarication is a national sport, have already sorted their side out ahead of Rammstein tomorrow. Hopefully it is the lead that others (hello Germany) will follow.
"Well, that was much faster than I expected.
A consensus has been reached in the land of IKEAns.
Today it was made official (after late night negotiations with the army, FMV and the Defence Committee of the Parliament) that the following will be in the package.
- BAE SYSTEMS CV90 latest mod, 50 of them. This is in firepower equal to roughly 200 Bradley's. It is the by far most capable Armoured Combat Vehivle in existance. Included is 500 000 rounds of ordinance, repair kits, spare barrels, support technicians, etcetera.
- Robot 57 NLAW, 2000 NLAWs for immediate delivery to Ukraine, these are the CV90 mounted type.
- 24 Archer platforms, including 250 000 shells. 200 000 Basebleed longrange, 99 000 Bonus extended range guided precission, and a whopping 1 000 Excaliburs (they are shart expensive).
- SAAB GLSDB 150 km cruise missile system.
But what is actually more important is the Weapons Procurement Deal announced between Sweden and Ukraine.
Sweden will assist Ukraine with additional weapons that Sweden will buy for Sweden and Lendlease to Ukraine.
This is typical Swedish naughtiness. This way we can buy tanks from let us say the US, South Korea, or Leqlercs from another country, and send to Ukraine. It most likely will be Abrams M1 Sep 3s.
It also opens up for Lendleasing aircraft to Ukraine.
It also included a preferential treatment clause for Ukraine in regards of purchases of Swedish weapons systems on a lendlease basis. Ie., Ukraine goes first on the very long list of customers.
This is important since it covers point 4 above and SAAB are the only ones producing them at a rate of 250 per month.
Obviously all of this is top shelf stuff or pure Hell Class.
This also includes a permission for a draw-down of up to 50 percent of our ammo stocks, and a lowering of offensive capacity.
To cover this a new ordinance factory is opening in March, and extension at BAE in Northern Sweden just opened, and SAAB opens a new factory late February.
There will also be a new tank program started by BAE and SAAB. But this is not really part of this. It is just that we have realised that we can't in any way, shape, or form, trust the Germans with our weapons production.
Also, the Leopard II is starting to be a bit long in the tooth, it is basically an early 70s design and we want something that is superior to whatever is out there.
It will be a multipurpose MBT that is modular in design, and based preferably on a 130mm autogun from Bofors, sidestepping Rhinemetal but able to use NATO 130mm. If this is not possible the 120mm autoloader will be updated into an autogun.
It will though take about 10 years to field it from now.
Anyway, the package will put pressure on everyone else to match it."
And here's some fun on the side. Uncle Luka appearing to promise the earth while promising diddly squat. Lavrov's hangdog expression gets a bit glowery.