APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090023-1
most used service, but extensive telegraph and broadcast services are also available. Domestic and international communications are handled by an integrated system of cables, open-wire lines, and radio-relay links. AM, FM, and TV services reach over 90% of the population. The principal telecom centers are Stockholm, Goteborg, and Malmo.
Most transportation and telecommunications are administered by the Ministry of Communications and its subordinate agencies. Public and private ownership of rail, highway, and waterway facilities exist side by side. Most ports are owned by the municipalities in which they are located; most telecom facilities are government owned.
Several plans for the improvement of both transportation and telecommunications are being implemented. Railroads are being improved through modernization of facilities and equipment, but no new rail construction is envisioned. Highway development is being implemented through a 15-year road plan (1970-85). The plan calls for construction of almost 1,000 miles of limited access, four-lane divided motorways, most of them in the Stockholm area, and about 5,600 miles of two- and four-lane national highways. Major maintenance is to be performed on 100,000 miles of state, municipal, and private roads. Facilities at all major ports are being continually improved, and most of the significant airfields are benefiting from a long-term modernization program, which began in 1950. Sweden is also improving its already outstanding telecom program. A major project underway is designed to reinforce substantially the coaxial cable system and provide it with the world's largest transmitting capacity.
B. Strategic mobility (C)
Sustained movement and resupply operations in support of military forces in southern Sweden would be accomplished over excellent transportation and telecommunications systems. The high density and quality of the area's rail network would facilitate major operations. The most important highways — between Oslo and Stockholm, Storlien and Stunsvall, and Halsingborg and Sundsvall via Jonkoping and Stockholm — all have sufficient widths to handle two lanes of resupply traffic. Inland waterways would be useful in the movement of bulk cargos.
In the north and north-central parts of Sweden the low density of the rail network, its lack of alternate routes, and its high vulnerability to interdiction and interruption would permit only limited military support. Above the 60th parallel the highway network is incapable of supporting sustained movement because of the paucity of roads, severe damaging effects of spring thaws, and low road and bridge capacities.
Sweden's 162 usable airfields could assume varying roles in support of military forces; however, only a few fields are located in the north. The chief role of the air force is defensive; consequently, very few airfields are capable of supporting sustained operations of aircraft heavier than medium or light bombers. The limited quantity of fuel available is also an adverse factor. Underground hangars have been constructed at a few airfields. In the event of war or other national emergency requiring augmentation of the Royal Swedish Air Force's airlift capability, the Swedish-registered transport aircraft and Swedish personnel of the Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) could be withdrawn from the consortium and used for military purposes. The considerable government holdings in Linjeflug AB would assure the ready transfer of the company's aircraft to the military, and the aircraft of the nonscheduled and other aviation enterprises could be acquired by requisition.
All of Sweden's major ports and most of the minor facilities are adaptable to military use. The merchant fleet's 146 cargo-type ships (dry cargo, roll-on roll-off/container, roll-on roll-off/trailer, container, and timber carrier), which have a capacity of about 1,070,000 deadweight tons, have extensive potential for short-haul (48 hours' steaming), troop-lift and logistics support in nearseas operations. However, a large number of these ships are employed in crosstrudes between foreign countries and might not be readily available for military support operations. About 30% of the units have booms of 40 tons or more lift and hatches of more than 50 feet in length. With expansion of the normal passenger capacity, the 12-passenger and two-passenger/cargo ships would have considerable potential for longer haul (more than 48 hours' steaming) troop transport. The 46 tankers, which have an estimated capacity of 16,720,000 U.S. barrels, could provide a moderate fleet-oiler or other military support capability for a short period.
The modern well-integrated telecom system, especially in the south, would be of great value to military users in large-scale operations. Major telecom facilities are well protected and would be vulnerable only to a highly concentrated sabotage effort. Most intercity cables are buried, and numerous alternate routes are available. Many telecom facilities are installed in bombproof shelters, and emergency power
2
APPROVED FOR RELEASE: 2009/06/16: CIA-RDP01-00707R000200090023-1
