NATO welcomed Sweden's application to join the alliance.
The air force of Sweden has a lot of advanced jets.
Many Swedish pilots are considering leaving their jobs because of policy changes.
As Sweden prepares to join NATO, it has a problem. The most experienced fighters are leaving.
Around half of the Swedish military's fighter pilots could take leave or resign in the fall.
Changes to the retirement system are the problem according to the trade union.
According to the Swedish Association of Military Officers, pilots have been able to retire at 55 years old in the past. The retirement age was raised a few years ago to 67 for people who were born in 1988 or later.
There is a problem in Sweden. The chief of the Swedish Air Force said that all of them had their retirement ages raised at once. A number of pilots are applying for leave, which is related to the new pension agreement.
Many of those pilots are upset. One pilot said there are a lot of people his age who have been trained and employed under certain premises.
The story of Sweden joining NATO is being played up by the Russian media. Sputnik News said that the Swedish armed forces have been struggling to recruit new pilots.
According to Jan Kallberg, a non-resident senior fellow with the Center for European Policy Analysis, there are other reasons for the pilot exodus.
Kallberg is a former Swedish army officer. I think it's the beginning of something bigger. They have been treated badly for a long time.
Commercial airlines that are hungry for pilots and willing to pay high salaries are not the only ones that have low pay.
The number of flying slots in the air force was slashed. Kallberg said that instead of leaving as a pilot at 55, they were stuck in a defense desk job for years until they could retire. Sweden's government is debating how to increase defense spending in the future.
Swedish pilots pay for their own housing, unlike the US military. If Sweden's entry into NATO leads to the reactivation of some old air bases, pilots will have to pay for new accommodations when they move to the new facilities.
How will a pilot shortage affect Sweden's military capability may be the least difficult question to ask. The core of Sweden's air force is six squadrons of 96 JAS39 C/D Gripen fighters.
Kallberg says that Sweden's main contribution to NATO is geography. There is operational depth in the high north. NATO will be able to use Swedish airfields.
NATO used to rely on bases on the Norwegian coast to project power into the Barents Sea, which borders military bases in Russia.
Sweden has access to both the Barents and the Baltic seas, as well as bases on Baltic islands, which would allow NATO to counter Russian naval and air power in the vital Baltic region.
Kallberg said that Sweden is a good place to conduct deterrence in the Baltic.
The Swedish military needs to be fixed. The army of Sweden, which uses conscripted troops, is unaccustomed to operating in larger formations for the sort of big-unit combat that might characterize a NATO-Russia war.
Kallberg said thatSweden is serious about meeting its NATO commitments. They will have to find troops and assets.
His work has been published in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy Magazine and other publications. He has a masters degree in political science. You can follow him on social networking sites.
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