A 70-year-old soldier? Sweden mulls lifting age of conscription amid officer shortage
"This means that we are now making very significant investments in the military defence," Jonson told reporters.
Sweden also needed to make sure that enough military personnel would be available in a crisis. The government inquiry 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 Cold War ended in 1991, Sweden drastically slashed its defence spending as it focused its military efforts on international peacekeeping missions. But it reversed course following Russia's 2014 annexation of Crimea, and started increasing military expenditure. In March, the government announced it would increase defence spending by about 300 billion krona ($47 billion) over the next decade, aiming to increase spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2030.
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