International Cooperation on Military Equipment

ASD

The Association of Swedish Security and Defence Industry is a member of ASD
(AeroSpace and Defence Industries Association of Europe).
Web site: www.asd-europe.org

The organisation represents the aeronautics, space, defence and
security industries in Europe in all matters of common interest with
the objective of promoting and supporting the competitive development
of the sector. It pursues joint industry actions which need to be dealt with
on a European level or which concern issues of transnational
nature.

ASD has 32 member associations in 21 countries across Europe and represents over 2000 companies with a further 80 000 suppliers, many of which are SMEs. The industry sectors employ around 638 000 people, with a turnover of over €120 billion.

Six-Nation Initiative – Letter of Intent (LoI)

In July 2000, the six large defence industry nations in Europe – the United
Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Sweden – signed an
important defence industry co-operation agreement on government level,
the Framework Agreement. This agreement was a result of the
Letter of Intent (LoI), the Six-Nation Initiative, adopted by the countries'
defence ministers in 1998. The purpose of the agreement is to facilitate
restructuring and operation of the European defence industry. The areas
covered are security of supply, export procedures, security of information,
research and technology, treatment of technical information and
harmonisation of military equipment requirements.

European Defence Agency (EDA)

On July 12, 2004, the EU Council of Ministers decided to establish the
European Defence Agency (EDA). Sweden participates in EDA, which has the following main tasks:
• To support the member nations' efforts to develop the European Security
and Defence Policy (ESDP),
• To propose and support European collaborative projects,
• To reinforce the defence technology and industrial base with a view to create
an international competitive European market for military equipment,
• To promote co-operation and efficiency in European defence research, development and technology.

EDA has a board consisting of the defence ministers of each participating
member state and a representative of the EU Commission. The board is
EDA's decision-making body. Unlike most international organisations involved in
defence co-operation, decisions are made by qualified majority.
Votes are counted in the same way as in corresponding systems in the EU.
Web site: www.eda.europa.eu

Nordic Co-operation, NORDAC

In 1994, the Ministers of Defence of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden agreed to a closer co-operation within armaments development and procurement. On December 2, a Framework Agreement was signed by the ministers.

An updated Framework Agreement from November 7, 2000 further allowed bilateral activities in the field of defence materiel to be covered by the NORDAC complex of directives. The Framework Agreement identifies the aim of the co-operation: To achieve financial, technical and/or industrial benefits for all four countries within the field of defence materiel. This is achieved through transparent and mutual exchange of information on planned national procurement in order to identify and exploit possibilities for common development, procurement, maintenance etc.

To fulfil this aim, a Co-operation Agreement was signed by the Chiefs of Defence on February 15, 2001. In order to further facilitate the co-operation a Security Agreement defining and regulating the security aspects of the co-operation between the countries was signed on September 1, 1995. These three agreements constitute the framework of the Nordic Armaments Co-operation.

NATO/NIAG Co-operation

The association represents the Swedish Security and Defence Industry in NIAG/PfP (NATO Industrial Advisory Group/Partnership for Peace).

The Transatlantic Link
Sweden has, since many years, established a close and fruitful co-operation with the USA. US technology constitutes the basis in many Swedish products, especially within the aerospace industry. The US market is extremely important to numerous Swedish companies who are key suppliers to the US.

FIF and the US counterpart NDIA have a close co-operation including industrial seminars covering important European and Transatlantic issues. These seminars are normally arranged in co-operation with the US and the Swedish Governments under the bilateral MoU between Sweden and the US.