Battleangel

Certain parties and individuals have started lobbying for the purchase of 2 Boeing C-17 aircraft to enable Sweden to fulfil its unfortunate role in the Nordic Battle Group and beyond. Or so the Swedish press reported. Interestingly, Googling the topic points to Boeing pushing the deal long before it reached elected officials or indeed the press. With a list price of $US220, the C-17 is anything but affordable and needless to say it would be nice not having to buy American cargo aircraft for a change. Especially with the much more appropriate Airbus A400M is just around the corner. And when the latter would mean support for the European aerospace industry, which Sweden is an integral part of.

So the question is if Boeing is running the Swedish defense planning or if we are. A secondary question is whether this folly is an indication that perhaps we aim to move more than just mechanized infantry within the EU frame work and are in fact looking to airlift the Leopard II or artillery. The latter would be an unpleasant indication of the extent of the so called European Defense.

Suffice it to say, there is an unhealthy reverence for American toys among military types around the world. Their search for a fatherland never ceases. One has to wonder whose side they are really on.