Sweden Signs Deal to Buy 4 Frigates From France, Deepen Defense Cooperation

Sweden inked a deal with France for a quartet of Naval Group frigates during a ceremony in Stockholm on Aug. 31.

The event in the Swedish capital was attended by the leaders of both nations, French President Emmanuel Macron and Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, who also agreed to deepen their defense cooperation more broadly.

The ships ordered by the Swedes will be manufactured by French state-controlled defense manufacturer Naval Group at its main surface shipyard in Lorient, located on Brittany’s Atlantic coast, Macron said in an Aug. 31 post on X.

“This is the excellence of our defense industry that is recognized,” Macron said, adding that it was also emblematic of “two nations that share a common vision of European sovereignty and security.”

“From the Baltic to the Atlantic, we are strengthening together our capacity to protect Europe and building a more sovereign, more powerful, more credible European defense.”

Macron thanked Sweden for showing confidence in France.

Kristersson said in a post on the same platform that delivery of the frigates would start from 2030, adding that Stockholm and Paris had also signed “a framework agreement on a strategic platform for defense cooperation between our countries.”

“The agreements strengthen the operational Swedish–French security policy cooperation, as well as in the field of defense materiel and industrial development,” he said, adding that the move strengthened Swedish security.

He also welcomed closer cooperation in “the Baltic Sea region and the Arctic, in NATO’s Forward Land Forces Finland, support for Ukraine, [and] countering Russian hybrid threats.”

The ships will cost Sweden 4.3 billion euros ($4.9 billion) and will be of the Frégate de Défense et d’Intervention (Defense and Intervention Frigate) (FDI) type, with a length of 400 feet and a displacement of 4,500 metric tons.

Such vessels are already in use by both the French and Greek navies, according to a Swedish government statement announcing the deal. The statement said the vessels will be equipped with advanced air defense capabilities, including Franco-Italian Aster 30 surface-to-air missiles and the Anglo-Italian-developed CAMM-ER surface-to-air missiles, among other weaponry.

They will additionally be armed with several Swedish systems, including RBS15 long-range anti-ship missiles, Torped 47 anti-submarine torpedoes, Giraffe 1X radar, 57- and 40-mm guns, and Trackfire, a remotely operated, fully stabilized weapon station.

All the Swedish-made elements will be manufactured by either Saab or BAE Bofors, with the new ships’ main focus on air defense and anti-submarine warfare.

Of the broader agreement, Macron said in a speech at the ceremony: “We are building a new strategic framework. We are giving ourselves the means to act together.”

“We have joint exercises and deployments. We share capabilities, and we have Franco-Swedish industrial partnerships,” he said, adding that this “demonstrates the strength and importance of this European pillar of defense and how Franco-Swedish cooperation is becoming, well, an essential element of this European pillar.”

Sweden and France are member states of both NATO and the European Union.

The move comes at a time when defense spending is ramping up across the continent, driven by the ongoing war in Ukraine, NATO’s recent expansion, and the United States’ stated desire to pivot from the Atlantic to the Pacific.

Sweden became the newest member of NATO in 2024, after ditching a long-maintained policy of nonalignment, keeping itself out of military alliances for some 200 years.

Stockholm changed its stance on the alliance following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, as did the neighboring nation of Finland, which joined NATO in 2023.

On Aug. 28, Stockholm agreed to help surveil and protect Finnish territory until at least the end of the year, amid increased tensions in the Baltic region.