The Swedish government on Tuesday announced a deal to purchase four new frigates for its navy from France’s Naval Group.

The Nordic country, neutral throughout the Cold War, applied for NATO membership in May 2022 alongside Finland, soon after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

It joined the alliance in March 2024 and is seeking to rapidly improve its defence readiness and expand its military.

Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said the military had completed an analysis of three rival bids in search of the one best placed to meet its needs.

“Based on that analysis, the government has now decided that Sweden will purchase four new frigates in a very large international defence-industrial deal,” Kristersson told a press conference.

“It is a tripling of Sweden’s air defence capability compared with today,” the prime minister said, calling the deal ‘one of the largest Swedish defence investments since the Gripen fighter jet was introduced in the 1980s’.

Sweden is buying four of the French Defence and Intervention (FDI) frigate models sold by Naval Group in what Kristersson described as the country’s biggest military investment since the 1980s.

It expects the first delivery by 2030, with the remaining three following by 2035. Sweden expects each ship to cost ‘just over 10bn’ Swedish crowns (roughly US $1.05bn), depending on the exact weapons systems on board, but the ministers stressed these figures remained estimates.

The government requested that the ships be outfitted so that several weapons developed in Sweden, including by Saab, can be used on them, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.

The new frigates, which the government previously said would have a 40-year lifespan, will represent a significant expansion of the Nordic country’s maritime defence capabilities.

The four ships will be named HSwMS Lulea, Norrköpping, Trelleborg and Halmstad.

Sweden currently has five smaller Visby class corvettes in its fleet, as well as a pair of older Gävle class corvettes. Beyond these warships it operates a small fleet of submarines that are being upgraded, as well as various other command, support, patrol, reconnaissance, training and small attack vessels.

Sweden’s right-of-centre coalition is one of Ukraine’s staunchest backers in Europe. It aims to reach defence spending of 3.5% of GDP by 2030, several years ahead of NATO’s targets.

Naval won the race for the contract with the government in Stockholm despite rival bids from Navantia in Spain and a joint bid from Britain’s Babcock in conjunction with Swedish aerospace and defence company Saab.

Neighbouring Norway, for instance, last year opted for the other path – ordering Babcock’s Arrowheat 120 frigates over the FDI from Naval Group.

Defence Minister Jonson said factors including the ability to complete a ‘quick delivery’, cost-sharing with France and fellow customers Greece, and the inclusion of a proven air defence system were among the reasons to select the Naval Group offer.

DW