Company insight
Sweden puts technology to the ultimate test
As technology advances the capability of weapons and vehicle systems for land, naval and air missions, the testing of new solutions is critical in order to make them ready for the battlefield. Jonas Linde, director of marketing & sales in the test and evaluation division (FMV T&E) of the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), explains the testing infrastructure needed for the latest military systems.
n the icy north of Sweden lies a vast area of marsh, forest and mountains that is the hunting ground of some of the most advanced weapons and vehicle systems in existence. With 3,300km2
I of
restricted ground space and 8,000km2 of restricted air space, Vidsel is Europe’s largest overland test range.
Almost entirely unpopulated, and with an open radio spectrum that allows live navigation and communication jamming systems to operate freely, it is the ideal place for realistic live training and exercise operations, and for testing new equipment, thanks to its extensive infrastructure of high-speed cameras; telemetry; optical and radar tracking systems; and flight termination systems. Furthermore, it has advanced electronic warfare (EW) capabilities, static and mobile ground targets, as well as remotely controlled airborne drone targets.
“Many years of Swedish neutrality and non- alliance meant that Sweden developed a huge amount of in-house capability. We have designed, produced and tested our own fighter aircraft, corvettes and submarines as well as tracked combat vehicles, so we are a small country that developed full-spectrum capability, along with the full scope of T&E capabilities.”
Built to challenge the best The FMV T&E division is a branch within the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, a government agency acting under the Ministry of Defence. Its main role is to test and evaluate all equipment, systems, platforms and materiel procured on behalf of the Swedish Armed Forces, from socks to fighter aircraft, though it is also open to collaboration with international defence industry companies and defence forces from friendly nations.
“To test live weapons or electronic jamming systems you need empty and remote spaces, and Sweden has a unique environment when it comes to really big and unpopulated test range areas.”
“We can test a wide spectrum of field-deployed or battlefield systems, but not nuclear, chemical or biological weapons,” says Jonas Linde, director of marketing & sales and senior flight test engineer in the test and evaluation division (T&E) of the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV), which operates the test range as well as other ranges and test engineering offices. “To test live weapons or electronic jamming systems you need empty and remote spaces, and Sweden has a unique environment when it comes to really big and unpopulated test range areas,” he adds.
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Vidsel is its largest ground test area, but it also operates the Älvdalen firing and exercise range with 540km2
of restricted and
unpopulated ground space, which is ideally suited for rotary wing test and evaluation and exercises involving helicopters and ground units. The FMV Flight Test Centre is used to evaluate all airborne systems delivered to the Swedish Air Force, including the JAS39 Gripen, and handles weapons integration and subsystem T&E. The FMV Land Test Centres are another example of the key areas tailored to T&E, and they are used to test weapon systems and ammunition; protection and
survivability; and the environmental tolerance of vehicles. At the Härnösand Naval Test & Training Range, a vast area of restricted sea and air space enables complex test, training and exercise scenarios using airborne; surface and subsurface drones; and both real and simulated EW-systems.
“In the air domain, we see a lot of interest in jamming systems, especially since the invasion of Crimea in 2014, where such systems were widely used,” says Linde. “We are also testing many unguided systems in the air, underwater and on land, including unmanned ground vehicles. We also see many laser-guided weapons systems, for example, and we do a lot of guided bomb unit (GBU) testing.”
“For naval systems, our test range in the Baltics can evaluate torpedoes and ship-based missiles and air defence systems using static sea targets, remotely controlled airborne targets, subsurface targets with [the] signature of a submarine and much more,” he adds. “We also do subsurface shock testing of submarine or ship hull components. All our facilities have very advanced testing instruments and infrastructure, and our personnel have full-spectrum knowledge and subject matter expertise in GBAD, jamming, radar, avionics and so much more.” Already called upon by Germany’s air force, army and navy, for example, FMV’s T&E facilities provide the ideal environments in which to test the effectiveness and durability of the next- generation weapons and vehicle systems. In these uncertain times, that could go a long way to providing the certainty that Europe’s land, air and sea capability will deliver when called upon. ●
www.fmv.se Defence & Security Systems International /
www.defence-and-security.com
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