Swedish Amphibious Corps

The Amphibious Corps (Swedish: Amfibiekåren, Amf) is the marine infantry arm of the Swedish Navy, with an emphasis on coastal defence. It has its roots in the coastal artillery (Swedish: Kustartilleriet, KA) but after the end of the Cold War it was seen as too expensive and not needed anymore, and most of it was disbanded with only KA 1 and 4 being reorganised into Amf 1 and 4. Its amphibious special operations arm, Kustjägarna, has grown in significance while its coastal batteries have been decommissioned.

Amphibious Corps
Amfibiekåren
Founded	1 July 2000; 25 years ago (2000-07-01)
Country	Sweden
Branch	Swedish Navy
Motto(s)	Semper Opus Solve ("Always solving the task")
March	"För kustartilleriet" (Åke Dohlin)[1]
Engagements	War in Afghanistan EUFOR Tchad/RCA EUNAVFOR
Insignia
Cap badge

Organization

The 1st Marine Regiment (Amf 1) is the main combat unit of the Amphibious Corps. With its anti-ship missiles, controllable mines and coastal rangers, as well as marine infantry units, it can exercise control in littoral areas. The Regiment is primarily based at Berga Naval Base near Stockholm. Also based in Gothenburg, is the Marine component of the 13th Security Battalion. In addition, the 1st Marine Regiment is also responsible for training three Home Guard battalions, one of whom is based on Gotland. These are the:

1st Marine Regiment (Amf 1)^[2]

• 2nd Amphibious Battalion
  • 201st Headquarters Company
  • 202nd Coastal Ranger Company
  • 203rd Amphibious Rifle Company
  • 204th Amphibious Rifle Company
  • 205th Amphibious Rifle Company
  • 206th Support Company

4th Marine Regiment (Amf 4)^[3]

• 5th Amphibious Battalion
  • Headquarters Company
  • Combat Company
  • Coastal Ranger Company
  • Amphibious Rifle Company
  • Support Company
• 17th Amphibious Patrol Boat Company
  • Staff Squad
    • HSwMS Skaftö (M13)^[4]
  • Close Protection Squad
  • Patrol Boat Platoon
  • Sensor Platoon
  • Boarding Squad
  • Support Squad
• 132nd Naval Security Company

Force Design

Sweden has a long tradition of amphibious warfare units based on small vessels with the ability to navigate the shallow waters of Northern Europe. Today's main amphibious warfare units, the amphibious battalions, was a development of the Coastal Rangers Companies established after WWII. The main weapon systems of the Swedish amphibious battalions are controlled mines, mortars and anti-ship missiles (Rbt-17) with mobility mainly provided by a large number of CB90-class fast assault craft.^{[citation needed]}

The next generation of Swedish amphibious forces are developed in the Force Design Swedish Marine Battalion 2030 program with the objective to evolve the Swedish amphibious forces to improve their ability to meet present and future threats and the demands of the ongoing NATO-integration. The program will during the coming years introduce a number of new platforms with sea-mobile data-centric weapon and sensor systems including sea-borne mortar, radar, anti-ship and air defence systems.^{[citation needed]}

Ranks and insignia

Main article: Military ranks of the Swedish Armed Forces

Since 2019 the ranks and insignia of the Swedish Amphibious Corps are as follows:^[5][6]

Officers

NATO code	OF-10		OF-9		OF-8		OF-7		OF-6		OF-5		OF-4		OF-3		OF-2		OF-1
Swedish Amphibious Corps[7] v t e
			General		Generallöjtnant		Generalmajor		Brigadgeneral		Överste		Överstelöjtnant		Major		Kapten		Löjtnant			Fänrik

Other ranks

NATO code	OR-9						OR-8		OR-7		OR-6						OR-5						OR-4				OR-3		OR-2						OR-1
Swedish Amphibious Corps[7] v t e
	Regementsförvaltare						Förvaltare		Överfanjunkare	Fanjunkare	Översergeant			Sergeant			Överfurir			Furir			Korpral				Vicekorpral		Menig 4		Menig 3		Menig 2	Menig 1	Menig

Heraldry and traditions

The coat of arms of the Swedish Amphibious Corps since 2000. It was previously used by the Swedish Coastal Artillery 1979–2000 and the Coastal Artillery Center (Kustartillericentrum, KAC) 1995–1997. Blazon: "Gules, two gunbarrels of older pattern in saltire above a flaming grenade and waves, all or".^[8]

See also

•  United States - United States Marine Corps
•  Finland – Nyland Brigade
•  United Kingdom – Royal Marines
•  Netherlands – Netherlands Marine Corps
•  Germany – Sea Battalion
•  Italy – San Marco Marine Brigade
•  Portugal – Portuguese Marine Corps
•  Spain – Spanish Marine Infantry
•  Lithuania - Marine fusiliers of the Lithuanian Naval Force