Battleangel

The supremely titled Supreme Commander of the Swedish armed forces Håkan Syrén has called on the government to splash its cash on a piece of modern technology.

A satellite system with a price tag of 500 million kronor will enable the Swedish military to take “important strategic pictures” over Northern Europe.

According to Thursday’s Östgöta Correspondenten the pictures will be “hard currency amid Sweden’s military co-operation with other countries,” and could be launched into space in 2008 or 2009.

Source: The Local

Why on earth would you want a satellite to take strategic pictures over Northern Europe? Seems like a front story for something else.

Someone nevertheless brought up the issue of buying United States keyhole satellite imagery instead of going to all this trouble. The reason for not buying into say American satellite imagery is obviously again neutrality in times of war and non-participation in military alliances. As long as there is no armed conflict that possibly involves Sweden, then it doesn’t matter where we get our images imo. But as long as that is true we also don’t need to acquire any images. And besides, what we really need is surveillance of vegetation and climate resources.
One should also note that the US probably wont sell just any type of images over any region. They even refused their darling Israel during the 70s and eventually made them launch their own spy satellites (future missions). A debate has also raged over Iran’s supposed interest in this field.

It is worth pointing out that this is the idea which the entire Swedish defense doctrine is built upon. To build hardware domestically to avoid being dependant on others and avoid compromising the non-participation philosophy. Even the appearance of domestic production is vital. Compare for instance the import of the German Leopard II main battle tank to Sweden and Heckler & Koch’s XM8 assault rifle to the US. Public relations, propaganda and a very real element of standing on one’s own in times of crisis. Plus you attract and maintain technical expertise.

But given that Sweden has joined the EU which has ambitions of a standing European defense force, maybe we should consult with the other players on the continent. I can’t believe no one in Europe has some sort of equivalent to the keyhole imagery or plans to deploy such satellites. And if that violates the non-participation in military alliances then .. well .. we could just as well be without keyhole satellites.

Strategically speaking, I’m also curious if developing anti-satellite weaponry wouldn’t be a better investment. Personally I don’t feel like paying for this disproportionate satellite system. But god knows what you can get away with in these treacherous times. It’s like in the cold war of the 50s when Sweden poured tons of money into making nuclear weapons, nearly completed a series of fission devices, made plans for a supersonic nuclear bomber only to scrap the entire project.
One can admire the ability to stand on one’s own but given the enormously overrated threat that was the cold war and the current threat matrix and Sweden’s modern history and location I just don’t see what good this spy satellite business will do. So bottom line, if we needed satellite images this would be the way to go. But we do not (need them). So stick to the highly successful civilian projects instead.