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Jonas Olsson

@jonasolsson.bsky.social

Scandinavia Correspondent BreakingDefense.com • Contributor WarshipsIFR.com & Kvartal.se • 30+ yrs ex-SVT journalist covering Nordic defence & NATO shifts. Visit my Linktree ➡️ linktr.ee/jonasolsson

1,366 Followers  |  581 Following  |  188 Posts  |  Joined: 17.10.2023  |  1.7487

Latest posts by jonasolsson.bsky.social on Bluesky

NATO allies shoot down unidentified drone over US barracks in Estonia Two unidentified drones flew near the Reedo military barracks in South Estonia on October 17 and allied forces shot one of them down.

news.err.ee/1609841727/n...

28.10.2025 17:27 — 👍 14    🔁 10    💬 0    📌 0
27.10.2025 16:30 — 👍 1    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0
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Jonas Olsson (@jonasolsson) Sweden to Launch New Civilian Foreign Intelligence Agency by 2027 STOCKHOLM — The Swedish government today announced plans to establish a new civilian foreign intelligence service, set to begin oper...

It's never too late to join Substack! Subscribe to my newsletter on defense & security news from NATO's northern flank. Welcome aboard!

substack.com/profile/1417...

27.10.2025 16:14 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 1
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Ukraine moves to buy scores of Saab Gripen fighters from Sweden - Breaking Defense "This is the beginning of a long journey, but it takes us one step closer to a major export deal for Saab and Sweden and Ukraine," the Swedish prime minister said.

COPENHAGEN — Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Sweden’s Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson today signed a letter of intent laying the groundwork for Kyiv to make a massive purchase of anywhere from 100 to 150 Gripen E fighter jets from Swedih Saab. breakingdefense.com/2025/10/ukra...

22.10.2025 18:26 — 👍 9    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 1
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World Nuclear Forces Here you can see for yourself how the arsenals of nuclear powers have changed. During the Cold War, there were about 70,000 nuclear weapons in the world. Since then the number has declined year by yea...

Pavel… you can have a look at my short documentary (7 min) made in 2019 about the Swedish Cold War nuclear weapons program. There you have facts that you won’t find at Wiki…. Just scroll down my interactive nuclear story and you will find the documentary in English… www.svt.se/datajournali...

12.10.2025 08:59 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Sweden comes out of its nuclear closet, sending Gripens to NATO’s Steadfast Noon drill - Breaking Defense “In an increasingly uncertain world, NATO needs a credible nuclear capability to prevent attacks against the Alliance. Steadfast Noon contributes to ensuring this,” Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said...

STOCKHOLM — Sweden will participate in NATO’s annual nuclear military exercise for the first time, a major step for a nation that avoided military alliance for 200 years and has avoided nuclear entanglements entirely.

breakingdefense.com/2025/10/swed...

10.10.2025 20:25 — 👍 73    🔁 28    💬 2    📌 1
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Germany and Sweden not discussing FCAS partnership, say defense ministers - Breaking Defense "A decision must and will be made regarding whether and how FCAS will continue” said German defense minister Boris Pistorius.

Berlin revealed that it is considering Swedish defense firm Saab’s airborne early warning and control platform (AEW&C), Global Eye. France has already opted for the surveillance and command plane.
breakingdefense.com/2025/09/germ...

24.09.2025 16:52 — 👍 11    🔁 4    💬 2    📌 0
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Russian threat pushes Sweden to additional $2.9 billion defense spending pledge for 2026 - Breaking Defense Planned investment in high-profile procurements for 2026 includes air defence systems, rocket artillery, ammunition and combat vehicles for the Swedish Army, new surface combat vessels for Marines and...

breakingdefense.com/2025/09/russ...

16.09.2025 05:13 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
Sverige fasar ut biståndet till Myanmar Sverige fortsätter omläggningen av biståndet för att kunna prioritera Ukraina. Regeringen fattar nu beslut om att fasa ut biståndet till Myanmar....

🇸🇪 Sweden to phase out dev aid to Myanmar by June ‘26, redirecting focus to Ukraine. Move comes as conditions worsen under Myanmar’s junta. #Sweden #Myanmar #Ukraine #ForeignAid

➡️ www.regeringen.se/pressmeddela...

12.09.2025 05:48 — 👍 5    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 0

STOCKHOLM — Just three days after Sweden closed a $550 million deal with Bangkok for four Gripen E/F fighter jets, a high-level Peruvian delegation in search of its own more modern fighter fleet visited Stockholm to hold talks with their Swedish counterparts about Saab’s Gripen.

28.08.2025 16:22 — 👍 6    🔁 2    💬 0    📌 1

STOCKHOLM — Sweden and Thailand finalized an agreement today in which Bangkok will buy four Gripen E/F fighter jets from Swedish defense firm Saab, with an order value of around 5.3 billion Swedish kronor ($550 million USD).

25.08.2025 19:13 — 👍 6    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Nordic countries, Canada signal support for Ukraine security guarantees - Breaking Defense In a joint statement, the countries said they are "ready to play an active role" to support security guarantees, though details have been scarce.

breakingdefense.com/2025/08/nord...

19.08.2025 19:54 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — The foreign ministers of the Nordic nations as well as Canada today expressed strong, unified support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity amid Russia’s ongoing missile attacks on Ukraine, as well as a willingness to play a part in any future security guarantees for Kyiv.

19.08.2025 19:54 — 👍 6    🔁 4    💬 2    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — The Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) told Breaking Defense that a formal signing ceremony is expected to take place later this month to mark Thailand’s acquisition of additional Saab JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets.

➡️ breakingdefense.com/2025/08/swed...

06.08.2025 16:36 — 👍 4    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM – The Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) has confirmed that Saab Gripen fighter aircraft were used against Cambodia over the weekend, marking the first-known weapons launch in combat from the Swedish jet.

➡️ breakingdefense.com/2025/07/afte...

29.07.2025 19:08 — 👍 9    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — Sweden has signed contracts worth over 5 billion Swedish kronor ($523 million) for artillery ammunition, marking its largest investment in such munitions since the 1980s.

➡️ breakingdefense.com/2025/07/swed...

08.07.2025 15:30 — 👍 7    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

It is named after Vice Admiral Oleksiy Vitalyovych Burylichev, who headed the Main Department of Deep-Sea Research for 15 years.

07.07.2025 05:57 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Росія спустила на воду нове судно для розвідки підводної інфраструктури Росія спустила на воду нове дослідне океанографічне судно «Вице-адмирал Буриличев», яке призначене для розвідки підводних комунікацій

Russia’s new navy vessel ‘Vice Admiral Burylychev’ launched in the Baltic Sea in July. It joins the MoD’s GUGI fleet for undersea surveillance & seabed warfare.

militarnyi.com/uk/news/rosi...

07.07.2025 05:51 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — Sweden has launched a major procurement to bolster air defense capabilities in the Baltic Sea region. The initiative includes medium- and short-range missile systems, radars, command infrastructure and vehicle platforms.
➡️ breakingdefense.com/2025/06/swed...

24.06.2025 17:11 — 👍 7    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0
Ceremony for raising naval flag on nuclear-powered and strategic submarine Emperor Alexander III. Source: Kremlin

Ceremony for raising naval flag on nuclear-powered and strategic submarine Emperor Alexander III. Source: Kremlin

Explore the world’s nuclear forces in 2025! ~2,100 warheads are on high alert.

SVT’s interactive story, now in its 7th year, tracks warheads, their carriers, & modernization in 9 nuclear-armed states:
🇷🇺🇺🇸🇨🇳🇫🇷🇬🇧🇵🇰🇮🇳🇮🇱🇰🇵

➡️ www.svt.se/datajournali...

21.06.2025 18:17 — 👍 3    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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Just days before NATO is set to gather for its high-profile summit at The Hague, Sweden today revealed it would delay its goal of hitting 3.5% GDP defense spending until up to 2032 — the timeline officials said is likely to be agreed upon by NATO allies next week. breakingdefense.com/2025/06/swed...

19.06.2025 16:32 — 👍 3    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — Sweden and Finland’s accession to NATO will enhance the alliance’s missile defense posture through geographical and operational depth, allowing for the deployment of more air defense systems.

breakingdefense.com/2025/06/scan...

18.06.2025 08:29 — 👍 4    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Swedish SVT published a fancy infographic of our global nuke arsenal data from the SIPRI Yearbook just published today. www.svt.se/datajournali...

16.06.2025 08:35 — 👍 7    🔁 3    💬 0    📌 0

Featuring interview with Hans M. Kristensen, Associate Senior Fellow with SIPRI’s Weapons of Mass Destruction Programme and Director for the Nuclear Information Project at Federation of America Scientists (FAS) @nukestrat.bsky.social @SIPRI.bsky.social @scientistsorg.bsky.social

16.06.2025 05:12 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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STOCKHOLM — China has boosted its nuclear arsenal by 100 warheads in just one year, growing from an estimated 500 to over 600 warheads in 2025, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

breakingdefense.com/2025/06/chin...

15.06.2025 22:06 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Visited Uppsala University for the fascinating #AlvaMyrdal2025 conference this week. Paintings of Swedish war kings gave perspective.

Stories on #nukes, #missiles, & #scandinaviadefense coming soon.
Stay tuned ⚡️⚡️⚡️

15.06.2025 14:21 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

“It’s unfortunate. Only U.S. Air Force Europe knows the reason behind the decision”, Colonel Greberg says and adds that, from a defense perspective, the USA remains Sweden’s closest ally. 4/4

03.06.2025 10:38 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

In the end, it involved only Denmark and the USA, but the Danes withdrew, and now it’s clear that the U.S. Air Force will not participate either.

The American contribution was set to include 12 F-16 fighter jets and 250 personnel. 3/4

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03.06.2025 10:38 — 👍 2    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0

“They informed us they have other commitments”, Colonel Peter Greberg, Commander of Norrbotten Air Force F21, says to SVT.

Originally, ACE2025, was planned to include around ten nations, but earlier this spring, the exercise was scaled back. 2/4

03.06.2025 10:38 — 👍 1    🔁 1    💬 1    📌 0
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Flygvapnets övning i Luleå ställs in – USA hoppar av Flygövningen ACE, som skulle ha hållits i veckan ställs in. De amerikanska deltagarna kommer inte. – De meddelade att de har andra uppgifter, säger Peter Greberg, flottiljchef på F21 i Luleå.

The multinational air combat exercise Arctic Challenge (ACE), scheduled to take place this week in Luleå, northern Sweden, has been canceled. The U.S. Air Force will not be attending, according to public broadcaster SVT. 1/4
www.svt.se/nyheter/loka...

03.06.2025 10:38 — 👍 6    🔁 5    💬 2    📌 1

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