Sweden - Hemvärnet / Home Guard

The Home Guard, a force of 100,000 older men, is equipped with assault rifles, submachine guns, and anti-tank weapons. These men keep their weapons at home and can respond to a mobilization order within hours. There are two branches of the Home Guards. The general Home Guard protects airfields, harbors, border lines, lines of communications, and mobilization depots. The industrial Home Guard protects most government agencies, industries of military importance, the Parliament building, the National Bank, Swedish State Railways, the Swedish Broadcasting Corporation, and other key facilities.

The Home Guard constitutes the greater part of Sweden's territorial defence forces. Home Guard personnel are volunteers and are recruited locally. Their duties are to guard and protect Swedish infrastructure against sabotage. Territory surveillance, field work, providing escorts, transport protection, target identification and artillery spotting are other tasks that the Home Guard can be expected to carry out. Special rapid response platoons and companies have more specialised tasks, a longer training period and are equipped with their own vehicles to ensure mobility. All units must be able to support the civil community in times of crisis or disaster in peacetime.

Eight of the voluntary defence organisations have personnel in the Home Guard, providing special skills and expertise. Home Guard units are trained both locally and regionally. Commanders, other officers and specialists also receive training at the National Home Guard Combat School in Vällinge, south of Stockholm.

To be accepted into the Home Guard you must be a Swedish citizen, aged at least 18 and with at least 85 days of basic military training. The Home Guard consists of around 40,000 men and women. 9,000 of these come from voluntary organisations. The Home Guard also has more than 30 local military bands with around 1,500 voluntary musicians.

The Government is establishing a new focus for Swedish defence in its Bill "A functional defence" 2008/09:140, published 19 March 2009. The national protection forces can be compared with existing operational platoons but will have a considerably larger volume - some 17 000 instead of 5 000. They will have more qualified assignments than the rest of the organisation. Soldiers will be recruited to them under contract and will be able to be mobilised from standby preparedness to operations within 24 hours. They will also have a service obligation in peacetime as well. The traditional Home Guard will continue to serve as a voluntary support to society in peacetime and as a supplement to the national protection forces in times of war. Localisation will continue to be regional, but greater functionality and mobility will enable the units to be deployed throughout the country if necessary.

In 2015 the Social Democratic Party, the Moderate Party, the Green Party, the Centre Party and the Christian Democrats agreed on a bill to parliament on the Swedish Defence covering the years 2016 to 2020. The Home Guard provides a large and important part of the land Forces. With their availability, their numbers and their geographical positions they are of vital importance for the defence of the Swedish territory, including the protection of base areas for the naval and air forces as well as for protection of critical infrastructure and other important objects. The Home Guard will receive increased capabilities including the addition of four mortar platoons and battalion level command and control assets.