Sweden is ‘it is no longer a country in which you cannot trust’

War, cross -border conflict and geopolitical agitation are rarely considered good for business.

However, that seems to have been the impact of the invasion of Ukraine in Russia in two of the neighbors of the aggressor to his west: Finland and Sweden.

Not directly, of course. Rather, it was the response of the two Nordic nations to the invasion that turned fear into hope.

Both countries requested the NATO membership of the Western Defense Alliance in May 2022, about three months after the winter invasion.

Less than three years later, both are complete members and already reap the benefits, in terms of national security and economy.

“We are no longer a country that cannot be trusted,” observes Micael Johansson, executive director of the Swedish Defense Company SAAB, referring to the previous historical neutrality of the nation.

He points out that in the year since Sweden joined NATO in March 2024, SAAB has already negotiated framework agreements with the NATO support and acquisition agency (NSPA). The NSPA is the body that organizes the order of NATO of defense firms.

Johansson adds that it is now much easier to obtain information about what is happening within the alliance. “We couldn’t access NSPA before,” he says.

Jukka Siukosaari, Ambassador of Finland in the United Kingdom, agrees. “Being part of NATO brings us on the same foot with all other allies. It increases the possibilities of Finnish companies in the defense sector and beyond.”

Private companies will benefit from promises by NATO Member States to increase defense spending.

Currently, only 23 of the 32 member states of the organization currently meet a defense spending target of 2% of GDP, but ambitions have grown in recent months, only to increase in recent weeks and days amid a lot of turbulence within the alliance.

Amid the uncertainty about how NATO could be seen in the future, there is no doubt that these higher expense commitments will remain and perhaps even strengthen if Europe decided that it could no longer trust the United States.

The new expenses commitments of NATO members are already ahead of those expressed by several existing members. Last year, Finland spent 2.4% and Sweden 2.2% of their respective GDP in defense, and both aim to raise this between 2.6% and 3% in the next three years.

Examples of new NATO initiatives on the northern flank of Europe include the establishment of new NATO bases and efforts to establish joint defense forces, in northern Finland.

In addition, the formation of the Nordic Air Joint command, which brings together Finland, Sweden, Sweden, Norway and the 250 Denmark Firstline Combat aircraft under a United Command Structure, with a flexible base and backed by shared intelligence.

In addition, substantial investments will be required to replace the reserves of advanced weapons systems, including missiles and anti -tank systems, says Johansson.

And while the White House announced this week a pause in US military aid to Ukraine, European leaders have declared that they are in the long journey, so we can also expect a substantial and continuous expense in arms.

Air surveillance programs and underwater systems are also increasingly demanded, since the tension that returns between Russia and the West brings a new cold to the Arctic region.

In these areas, the SAAB chief is anxious to promote its own solutions, such as the Early Control and Early Control Platform of Globaleye Airborne, and its Wasp Sea wasp, a remotely controlled submarine vehicle that can neutralize explosive devices.

However, given the strong emphasis of Donand Trump in “America first”, it is unlikely that he is happy with the European members of NATO who choose Saab, or in fact any other European defense firm on the US rivals.

Europe will need to balance its desire to reduce its dependence on the United States with its obvious need to retain US support.

European members must also consider the complexities and interdependencies of NATO defense systems. They often combine technologies and machines, weapons and ammunition, vehicles, crafts and vessels, which occur in several different countries of NATO.

In a sense, then, the alliance remains linked by complex supply chains and contractual agreements that could not be disregarded during the night.

“The transatlantic relationship of Europe will always remain important,” says Johansson, although he also points out a “growing understanding in Europe that we have to do more on our own.”

“The United States really protects its own defense industry, and we should do the same in Europe,” he says, while welcoming a “fierce competition” among commercial defense companies.

However, much of this competition can be among newcomers related to the defense industry.

The Finnish government agency Business Finland has Posted a guide That offers advice to companies on how to do business with NATO.

Its authors predict that the armed forces on both sides of the Atlantic will have “new significant needs of services and equipment, both high technology and low technology.”

Many of these needs must be met by new companies and small to medium -sized companies, says the guide, instead of exclusively by large established defense companies.

Johan Sjöberg, Security and Defense Policies Advisor at the Swedish Enterprise Confederation, says that NATO membership has opened doors for Swedish companies, especially because “the perspective of other countries and companies (towards them) has changed.”

Mr. Sjöberg adds that it favors a “holistic vision, that security is good for business, since the increase in safety and stability provides long -term credibility.”

Also in Finland, NATO membership has created new opportunities, especially for the large number of medium-sized small companies that the Siukosaari ambassador refers as “nokia-spin-offs.”

They are expected to provide more and more avant -garde technology, such as drones, sensors and digital surveillance systems for programs such as the “Drones Wall” from Norway to Pole that NATO members are developing to defend their borders with Russia.

In fact, as the nature of the war changes, Europe’s security can depend more and more on cyber defense and the protection of civil facilities, such as pipes and cables of critical marine seafoods of systems.

But perhaps the most revolutionary idea arising from NATO’s Nordic expansion is the concept of “total defense” of the region.

Also applied by Norway and Denmark, considers the national infrastructure, such as Internet and Telephony, Generation and Distribution of Energy, Road Networks and Safe Food Supplies, Medicine such as parts of a total defense system.

Much of this may not be registered as a defense expense in statistics, but at the same time, none of that is free.

Beyond the expenditure of civil infrastructure, the National Military Service, for example, sometimes moves people from the economically productive parties of the economy, says Ambassador Siukosaari.

But perhaps what they deliver more for the nation than the mere provision of products and services?

The newest NATO members believe that they could teach other allied countries one or two things about the defense. They clearly offer new perspectives both how defense expense should be measured. And perhaps also in how civil society and private companies can play its parts.