Publicerad: 2008-11-04 10:10
40 years ago, in 1968, a joint materiel administration authority for all of Sweden’s armed forces was born: Försvarets Materielverk, or FMV.
Over the 40 years that FMV has managed materiel provision to the Swedish Armed Forces, there have been major changes both in geopolitics and in materiel technology. Throughout its existence, FMV has adapted to these changes on a continuous basis, but the fall of the Berlin Wall at the end of the 80s brought a much higher and more forced pace of change.
For decades, FMV was a government authority with a very clear mission: to build, within the country, a defence force for the protection of the country’s borders. Today, the authority’s task is to use international cooperation projects to supply materiel to an armed force focused on operations in the international arena.
In 1968, FMV had 4,000 employees, to be compared with its current workforce of about 1,600. Increasingly, manufacturing and assembly work is subcontracted to the industry. FMV retains three main tasks: requirement specifications on materiel and systems, based on the needs of the Swedish Armed Forces; procurement with price, performance and secure delivery requirements; and testing and evaluation of the delivered materiel.
FMV’s future looks bright. The role as independent authority between the customer and the industry has proven a viable and valuable one – and the materiel systems of the future will require even more knowledge and resources at the procurement stage. At the same time, demands for increased cost efficiency will continue to feature, which in turn will require further development.
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