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Stockholm (AFP)
Sweden is considering calling up former officers as old as 70 to active duty as it seeks to ensure its military is prepared in times of crisis, the defence minister said on Monday.
The proposal is among several options suggested by an inquiry that the government ordered in 2024, the year the country joined NATO, to look at how Sweden's expanding armed forces would be assured of personnel in a conflict.
Sweden broke two centuries of military non-alignment to join NATO.
Presenting the results of the government probe, Defence Minister Pal Jonson told a press conference on Monday that the Nordic country of 10.5 million people faced "serious times".
"This means that we are now making very significant investments in the military defence," Jonson told reporters.
In addition to investing in equipment already underway, Sweden also needed to make sure that enough military personnel would be available in a crisis.
The government probe suggested raising the age that former military officers could be recalled to active duty to 70, from the current 47.
It also proposed removing a limit on military deployment for former conscripts.
Currently, "deployment duty" remains for a maximum of 10 years after the most recent military service, but the inquiry suggested scrapping this limit and instead placing those who hadn't served for 10 years or more into the Swedish Armed Forces' reserve force.
Jonson said the proposals would be sent out for review, hoping to present a bill to parliament early next year.
After the end of the Cold War, Sweden drastically slashed its defence spending as it focused its military efforts on international peacekeeping missions.
In 2017, the country reintroduced compulsory military service, seven years after abandoning it.
In March, the government announced it would increase defence spending by about 300 billion kronor ($31 billion) over the next decade, aiming to increase spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2030.
