Swedish Armed Forces: Encyclopedia II - Swedish Armed Forces - Military Ranks

Swedish Armed Forces - Military Ranks

Swedish military ranks, essentially corresponds to those used by the armed forces of the English speaking world. Swedish ranks correspond even more closely to those in German usage due to linguistic similarities. See comparative military ranks.

There are two different systems of rank for commissioned officers, depending on whether one is commissioned according to the system used in the Army, or the one in the Navy. The Air Force and the non-navy Marine Forces uses the same system as the Army.

The military introduced the rank of Brigadier General in 2001. The rank and the responsibilities associated with it existed before 2001, but all officers were commissioned as "Colonel First Class", or Överste av första graden, i. e. not a General. The same goes for Flottiljamiral which used to be Kommendör av första graden, or "Captain First Class". The background for this anomaly was a political will to limit the number of Generals in the armed forces. No Swedish Field Marshals has been appointed since the 19th century.

All officer's ranks below commissioned officers use the same system of rank independent of their branch of service and are divided into two classes. The higher class, "underofficer", has a status comparable to that of a warrant officer and often carries a responsibility comparable to that of a lower ranking commissioned officer. The lower class, "underbefäl", are the non-commissioned officers of the armed forces. Cadet's hold a rank equivalent to that of a WO "Sergeant", but wear different insignia. The ranks of fanjunkare, överfurir and vicekorpral are rarely used in the regular service. They are however used in volunteer and auxiliary forces.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Military Ranks", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki