T. A. Gardner
Serial Thread Killer
Thanks Vlad!
25 April 2022 - Sweden and Finland agree to apply for NATO membership
Swedish armed forces are the 12th most powerful in Europe, and the 31st most powerful in the world
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bu...ost-powerful-militaries-in-europe-2018-11?amp
One little problem... Right now, most of Sweden's military hardware is not NATO compatible. For example, the Gripen in Swedish service uses Jet A for fuel versus NATO standard JP 8 and JP 4. That little difference showed up back when the Swedes sent some jets to Italy to help in the Libyan revolution. They sat at a NATO airfield unused because they couldn't use the fuel available. Commercial Jet A had to be trucked in just to allow the planes to fly home.
While the engines can be swapped out, that's going to cost Sweden some serious money. It's going to take Sweden a decade or more to move to NATO standard equipment and munitions once they join. Finland is in the same situation. Even the Eastern European ex-Warsaw Pact nations like Poland, are still trying to shed non-standard ex-Soviet military equipment in favor of stuff that meets NATO's standards for compatibility.