Military ranks of the Swedish Armed Forces

Current ranks

Since 2009, there are three categories of ranks, Officerare, Specialistofficerare and GSS- Gruppbefäl, soldater och sjömän

Officerare (Officers)

Officers lead units from platoon and up. They are trained at the Military Academy Karlberg in a three-year academic program(180 ECTS credits) and graduate as fänrik. Cadets with no prior service must complete a 6-9 months preparatory course before they start at the academy.

Specialistofficerare (Senior NCOs, lit. Specialist Officers)

Specialistofficerare are educated at specialist schools and centres for 1,5 years and graduate as Förste Sergeant. Experienced soldiers who have served as corporals and sergeants may take a shortened course. Civilians must complete a preparatory course before the 1,5 year specialist training starts.

GSS - Gruppbefäl, soldater och sjömän (junior NCOs, soldiers and seamen, lit. Squad leaders, soldiers and seamen)

The two highest ranks in this category, korpral and sergeant, form their own sub-category, gruppbefäl. They command squads of approx. 8 men. Ordinary soldiers are given the rank menig 1 klass with different insignia depending on how long they have served.

When the professional NCO corps was reintroduced in 2009 it was decided that some ranks in this category should, like the old underofficerare ranks in 1960-1972, have a relative rank higher than the most junior officers. The current relative ranks are shown in the table below.

Rank insignias

The table below shows ranks according to seniority, with the most senior to the right. OF denotes officers, OR other ranks (as per STANAG 2116). Those ranks were ratified by the supreme commander on October 24, 2008, and became effective as of January 1, 2009. Military ranks of (primarily) Great Britain have been used as a basis for harmonization with NATO.

¹ Menig wear branch insignia (see table below).² Menig 1kl are given one additional bar/stripe after 3, 5 and 7 years of service (see table below) without advancement in rank, seniority and skill level.

Distribution of personnel vs ranks

Since the end of the Cold War, Sweden has gradually abolished the mass-mobilization system based on national service and universal military training of all young males, through a system of selective draft of an increasingly lower proportion of available manpower, to a system based on volunteer enlistment. Concomitantly a large reduction of forces and capabilities has occurred, as well as a substantial increase of participation in "hot" international operations. Reflecting these new conditions a new personnel structure was introduced in 2009 (see historical section below), emphasizing junior leadership and specialist competence through the re-creation of a NCO Corps. As a result, there is a large surplus of older soldiers of officer rank that either will have to be phased out through early retirement or converted into non-commissioned officers.

¹ The King of Sweden, the supreme commander, and the former supreme commander serving in the EU as general, retaining his Swedish rank of general.² Sergeant (OR5) is a GSS rank, but the number is included in the table for professional officers in the annual report.³ The annualized sum of all GSS personnel, including readiness personnel (beredskaps BSA) 607, augmentees (förstärknings FS) 477 and personnel abroad (US) 555. Disclaimer: Personnel serving abroad (US) may also consist of former professional officers serving in officer ranks. It is not clear whether the number also includes sergeants (OR5), which are recorded separately in the table "professional officers" of the annual report. Thus, the number could as well be 1,637 - 307 = 1,337.⁴ This constitute the number of GSS/K, continuously serving personnel. GSS/T (reserve personnel serving some days a year) is an emerging category personnel that was not possible to measure at the time the annual report was published.⁵ The sum of all personnel between OR1 and OR5, including readiness personnel (beredskaps BSA), augmentees (förstärknings FS) and personnel serving abroad (US). Disclaimer: Personnel serving abroad (US) may also consist of former professional officers serving in officer ranks.⁶ This includes officers serving at times (T) as of the annual report for 2011.

Translation to English

This table shows the official translations of the Swedish ranks and their abbreviations.

¹ used in the Navy.² used in the Navy and Air Force.³ for clarification of ranks, personnel in Navy appends (N) after rank or abbreviation.

Historic ranks

When an army based on national service (conscription) was introduced in 1901 all commissioned officers had ranks that were senior to the warrant officers (underofficerare) and non-commissioned officers (underbefäl). In a reform 1926 the relative rank of the then senior warrant officer, fanjunkare, was increased to be equal with the junior officer rank underlöjtnant and above the most junior officer rank fänrik. In 1960 the relative rank of the warrant officers were elevated further so that

i. The lowest warrant officer, sergeant, had relative rank just below the lowest officer rank, fänrik.

ii. The second warrant officer rank, fanjunkare, had relative rank between fänrik and löjtnant.

iii. The highest warrant officer rank, förvaltare, had relative rank between first lieutenant and captain.

In 1972 the personnel structure changed, reflecting increased responsibilities of warrant and non-commissioned officers, renaming the underofficerare as kompaniofficerare, giving them the same ranks as company grade officers (fänrik, löjtnant, kapten). Underbefäl was renamed plutonsofficerare and given the rank titles of sergeant and fanjunkare, although their relative ranks were now placed below fänrik. The commissioned officers were renamed regementsofficerare, beginning with löjtnant. The three-track career system was maintained, as well as three separate messes.

A major change in the personnel structure in 1983 (NBO 1983), merged the three professional corps of platoon officers, company officers, and regimental officers into a one-track career system within a single corps called professional officers (yrkesofficerare). The three messes were also merged to one.

Ranks 1983 - 2009

(1) Specialist school where aspirants graduate as Sergeant (Specialist Officer) (year 2008)

(2) Military Academy, cadets graduate as Fänrik

(3) Privates wear insignia of branch. In this case the infantry.

Ranks 1953 - 1972

Note that the rank of Fältmarskalk (Field Marshal) was a de jure rank before the reform of 1972, even though it has not been used since 1824.