The Chief of Defence, formerly the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces (;

acronym An acronym is a type of abbreviation consisting of a phrase whose only pronounced elements are the initial letters or initial sounds of words inside that phrase. Acronyms are often spelled with the initial Letter (alphabet), letter of each wor ...

: ÖB) is the highest ranked professional military officer in the

Swedish Armed Forces The Swedish Armed Forces (, literally ''Defence Force'') are the Military, armed forces of the Kingdom of Sweden. It consists of four separate military branches, the Swedish Army, the Swedish Navy, the Swedish Air Force and the Home Guard (Swed ...

, and is by

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

terminology the Swedish chief of defence equivalent. The Chief of Defence is the agency head of the Swedish Armed Forces and formally reports to the

Government of Sweden The Government of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the Cabinet (government), national cabinet of Sweden, and the country's Executive (government), executive authority. The Government consists of the Prime Minister of Sweden, Prime Minister and their ...

, though normally through the Minister for Defence. The primary responsibilities and duties of the Chief of Defence (and the charter for the Armed Forces) are prescribed in an ordinance issued by the Government. The Chief of Defence is, apart from the honorary ranks held by the

King of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is centred on the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the #IOG, Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. by law a constitutional monarchy, constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parl ...

and in the past other members of the Swedish royal family, by unwritten convention normally the only professional military officer on active duty to hold the highest rank (a four-star

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

). An exception was made 2009-2014 when

Håkan Syrén General Håkan Erik Gunnar Syrén (born 31 January 1952) is a retired officer of the Swedish Coastal Artillery/Swedish Amphibious Corps and former chairman of the European Union Military Committee. He was the Supreme Commander of the Swedish Arme ...

was chairman of the

European Union Military Committee The Military Committee of the European Union (EUMC) is the body of the European Union's (EU) Common Security and Defence Policy that is composed of Member state of the European Union, member states' Chief of Defence, Chiefs of Defence (CHOD). Thes ...

. The present Chief of Defence, General

Michael Claesson Michael Claesson (born 1 March 1965) is a Swedish Army officer. He currently serves as the Chief of Defence (Sweden), Chief of Defence since 1 October 2024. Claesson began his military career in 1984 as a tank commander. He advanced through vario ...

, took office on 1 October 2024.

History

Before the modern era, the King was expected to command the forces himself; not seldom on location during war campaigns as shown by

Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

, Charles X of Sweden, Charles X, Charles XI,

Charles XII Charles XII, sometimes Carl XII () or Carolus Rex (17 June 1682 – 30 November 1718 Old Style and New Style dates, O.S.), was King of Sweden from 1697 to 1718. He belonged to the House of Palatinate-Zweibrücken, a branch line of the House of ...

and

Gustav III Gustav III (29 March 1792), also called ''Gustavus III'', was King of Sweden from 1771 until his assassination in 1792. He was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederick and Queen Louisa Ulrika of Sweden. Gustav was a vocal opponent of what he saw ...

. This remained the case formally until the 20th century. From the late 19th century onwards, there were no service chiefs of the

Army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

Navy A navy, naval force, military maritime fleet, war navy, or maritime force is the military branch, branch of a nation's armed forces principally designated for naval warfare, naval and amphibious warfare; namely, lake-borne, riverine, littoral z ...

; all senior service commanders reported directly to the

King in Council The King-in-Council or the Queen-in-Council, depending on the gender of the reigning monarch, is a constitutional term in a number of states. In a general sense, it refers to the monarch exercising executive authority, usually in the form of app ...

. Apart from a single Minister for Defence created in 1919 by merging the position of ministers of the land forces and naval forces, no joint command structure existed. In 1936, a Supreme Commander was intended to be appointed in war-time-only, and on 1 December 1939, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the first Supreme Commander, General

Olof Thörnell General (Sweden), General Olof Gerhard Thörnell (19 October 1877 – 25 July 1977) was a senior Swedish Army officer. Thörnell's military career spanned several promotions and roles within the Swedish Army. He began as a lieutenant in the Uppla ...

, was appointed. In 1942 it was decided to keep this office even after the end of the war. The Supreme Commander would in wartime formally report to the King in Council until the enactment of the new

Instrument of Government The Instrument of Government was the first constitution of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland and was also the first codified and written constitution in England. It was drafted by Major-General John Lambert in 1653. Anteced ...

in 1974, and after 1 January 1975 to the

Government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

Heraldry

The coat of arms of the Chief of Defence was used from 1991 to 1993. It has since 1993 been used by the

and was used from 1994 to 2001 by the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters.

Blazon In heraldry and heraldic vexillology, a blazon is a formal description of a coat of arms, flag or similar emblem, from which the reader can reconstruct an accurate image. The verb ''to blazon'' means to create such a description. The visual d ...

: "Azure, lesser

coat of arms of Sweden The coat of arms of the Kingdom of Sweden () is the arms of dominion of the Monarchy of Sweden, King of Sweden. It has a greater and a lesser version. The shield displays the "Three Crowns of Sweden" quartering the "Lion of Bjälbo", with an ine ...

, three open crowns or placed two and one. The shield surmounting an erect sword of the last colour". File:Försvarsmakten vapen bra.svg, Coat of arms of the Chief of Defence used 1991 to 1993. The command flag of the Chief of Defence is drawn by Brita Grep and embroidered by hand by the Kedja studio, Heraldica.

: "Fessed in blue and yellow; on blue three open yellow crowns placed two and one, on yellow two blue batons of command with sets of open yellow crowns placed two and one in saltire." File:Överbefälhavarens befälstecken MM 25330.jpg, Command flag of the Chief of Defence. File:Kommandotecken Överbefälhavaren.svg, Command sign of the Chief of Defence.

List of Chiefs of Defence

, - , -style="text-align:center;" !colspan=9, Supreme Commander (1937–2024) , - , - , -style="text-align:center;" !colspan=9, Chiefs of Defence (2024–present) , -

Timeline

ImageSize = width:1000 height:auto barincrement:10 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1935 till:2030 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:5 start:1935 Define $now = 2024 Colors = id:ar value:green legend: Army id:ma value:darkblue legend: Navy id:fv value:skyblue legend: Air_Force id:time value:rgb(0.9,0.9,0.9) Legend = orientation:vertical position:right LineData = layer:back width:0.1 color:time at:1935 at:1940 at:1945 at:1950 at:1955 at:1960 at:1965 at:1970 at:1975 at:1980 at:1985 at:1990 at:1995 at:2000 at:2005 at:2010 at:2015 at:2020 at:2025 at:2030 BarData = barset:PM bar:thörnell bar:jung bar:swedlund bar:rapp bar:synnergren bar:ljung bar:gustafsson bar:wiktorin bar:hederstedt bar:syren bar:göranson bar:bydén bar:claesson PlotData= width:6 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:PM bar:thörnell from: 1939 till: 1944 color:ar text: Thörnell bar:jung from: 1944 till: 1951 color:ar text:

Jung Carl Gustav Jung ( ; ; 26 July 1875 – 6 June 1961) was a Swiss psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychologist who founded the school of analytical psychology. A prolific author of over 20 books, illustrator, and correspondent, Jung was a c ...

bar:swedlund from: 1951 till: 1961 color:ar text: Swedlund bar:rapp from: 1961 till: 1970 color:fv text: Rapp bar:synnergren from: 1970 till: 1978 color:ar text: Synnergren bar:ljung from: 1978 till: 1986 color:ar text:

Ljung Ljung and Annelund () is a locality situated in Herrljunga Municipality, Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 1,215 inhabitants in 2020. The locality was formed by Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( ; SCB, ) is the Swedish government ...

bar:gustafsson from: 1986 till: 1994 color:ar text: Gustafsson bar:wiktorin from: 1994 till: 2000 color:fv text: Wiktorin bar:hederstedt from: 2000 till: 2004 color:ar text: Hederstedt bar:syren from: 2004 till: 2009 color:ma text: Syrén bar:göranson from: 2009 till: 2015 color:ar text: Göranson bar:bydén from: 2015 till: 2024 color:fv text: Bydén bar:claesson from: 2024 till: $now color:ar text: Claesson Every time a new Chief of Defence is to be appointed, there is some debate between the different services. Some feel that some kind of rotational system would be appropriate. In actuality, most Chiefs of Defence have come from the

, and only one,

, from the

. Because he is a

general A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

of the Amphibious Corps, there has to this day not been a single

admiral Admiral is one of the highest ranks in many navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force. Admiral is ranked above vice admiral and below admiral of ...

to hold the office.

List of Deputy Supreme Commanders

Until 30 June 1994, the Chief of the Defence Staff was the second most senior member of the

. When the Swedish Armed Forces was reorganized on 1 July 1994, the Chief of the Defence Staff position was abolished. Lieutenant General

Percurt Green Lieutenant General Per Kurt (Percurt) Green (born 2 December 1939) is a Swedish Army officer whose senior commands have included commanding officer of the Joint Operations Command, Deputy Supreme Commander and military commander of the Middle Mi ...

became the first Deputy Chief of Defence who took office on 1 July 1994. He also held the post of head of the Joint Operations Command (''Operationsledningen'', OpL). In conjunction with the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters reorganization in 1998, a special position was created as Deputy Chief of Defence to relieve the Chief of Defence. The Deputy Chief of Defence led the Headquarters work through coordination of the operations. He also exercised employer responsibility for the staff in the Headquarters. In order to coordinate the operations he had a Coordination Department. The Deputy Chief of Defence also acted as the Deputy Agency Executive (''Ställföreträdande myndighetschef''). A formal position of head of the Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters was established in 2002. From 1 October 2005, the post of Deputy Chief of Defence became the Director General of the Swedish Armed Forces held by a civil servant.

Footnotes

References

Notes

Print

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External links

* {{Chief of military by country Military appointments of Sweden *

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

Heads of Swedish State agencies 1939 establishments in Sweden