Doctrinal Imbalance: A Study of Swedish Army Doctrine.

摘要

The Swedish Army has been significantly reduced during the last two decades. Despite the decreasing numbers of available forces, Swedish Army doctrine has remained essentially the same, built upon offensive concepts such as maneuver warfare and local superiority. This study uses a combination of qualitative analysis using military theory, and quantitative analysis using a computer simulation, Steel Beasts Pro, in order to examine how well Swedish Army Doctrine has adapted to the available resources. The results show that a more defensive approach has a greater chance of achieving Sweden's operational and strategic goals. Finally, the study recommends changes that, if implemented, would adjust Swedish doctrine to its resources. The three recommendations are: 1. Re-evaluate the doctrinal statement that Sweden can only achieve decisive result in battle through offensive operations. 2. Change the statement that it is necessary for Sweden to achieve a decisive result in order to reach its operational and strategic goals; it is enough not to lose. 3. Include a description of the risks of the theoretical concepts used in the doctrine in order to get an increased understanding of the risk mitigation needed if these concepts are to be used with the current resources.