Crisis preparedness and total defence
The Swedish Coast Guard is part of Sweden’s preparedness for emergencies in the marine environment. We are the civilian actor with the largest capability above, on and below the waves. As part of the total defence, our assignment is primarily as a rescue service and maintaining order at sea in all situations and levels of threat: when there is no identified threat, in emergencies, during heightened states of alert and in wartime.
This means that we must plan and create the necessary capabilities to complete our assignment, prevent vulnerabilities and identify and withstand threats and risks.
While the sea and major lakes are vital to Sweden in many regards, from a defence perspective the main concerns are providing our population with drinking water and our nuclear power plants with water for their cooling systems. Preventing and combatting emissions secures these water resources.
Total defence
The total defence consists of military and civil defence and encompasses all of the activities necessary to prepare Sweden for war. The total defence must be able to deal with any and all threats that Sweden may face, as well as contributing to handling and preventing crises in our vicinity. It must also defend Sweden against armed attack, protect the civilian population and ensure that vital societal functions and critical infrastructure continue to function in the event of an armed attack or war
Added value for society
By strengthening our capacity to perform our rescue, maritime surveillance and emergency preparedness assignments, we create added value for society by reinforcing Sweden’s emergency preparedness and total defence.
This applies to all situations on the threat scale: in peacetime, in crisis in peacetime, in the grey zone and in a heightened state of alert. The term grey zone refers to a situation between peace and war when hostile states or non-state actors attempt to undermine a country’s interests, freedom of action and capabilities without resorting to an armed attack.