- The Swedish Air Force -
Following the end of the second world war the Swedish Air Force –
Flygvapnet – was greatly expanded. No longer was the Swedish air space to be defended by obsolete aircraft, but the best that could be found. Eventually a strong airplane industry producing high performance military aircraft was developed. In the early 1950s it was considered to be the 4th largest Air Force in the world. Although it did not retain this “rating” very long, for most of the cold war era the Air Force enjoyed being a prioritised branch. In numbers it was larger than all other Nordic countries combined.
Most of the Air Force strike aircraft were pooled in a unit known as E1 (1a Attackeskadern), sometimes nicknamed “the Supreme Commander’s heavy club”. Their primary mission was to attack the supposed Soviet invasion fleet during its passage in the Baltic. During the early stages of the cold war the Soviet naval forces had limited shipping resources and limited range on their fighters. It was not believed the Soviets would be able to mount a coastal invasion while E1 existed. However, during the later stages of the cold war Soviet weapons and aircraft became better. And unlike the Swedes they did not lessen their numbers.
In the age of the AJ37 Viggen it was expected E1 would be able to deliver four sorties on the invasion fleet. The priority targets being the Soviet escort vessels. If enough destroyers and corvettes were sunk the Soviets would have to abort or the Swedish navy and coastal artillery would slaughter the Soviet transport ships as it came close to the coast.
The secondary mission of E1 was to destroy roads in the north. A land invasion of northern Sweden would have to pass through Finland. There were six main roads (of which four were especially good) and one railway necessary to supply a broad invasion.