[legend of the top picture]Two Russian SU 27 and two Russian SU 24 violated Swedish airspace east of Gotland. The Incident Response Team documented the incident by photograph.

News of Russian nuclear planes questioned
Updated today 16:43Published today 15:46

Several defence experts doubt the reports that two Russian aircraft that violated Swedish airspace were armed with nuclear weapons.

- My assessment of the pictures is that the planes look completely unarmed, says Andreas Hörnedal, an expert at FOI.

Several media, including SVT Nyheter, reported on Wednesday that two of the four Russian aircraft that violated Swedish airspace in early March were armed with nuclear weapons. The information originally came from TV4 Nyheterna, which referred to "sources".

The information has already been toned down by the defence's air force chief.

- Had we seen an elevated threat to Sweden linked to this incident or other events, we would have informed about it, Air Force Chief Carl-Johan Edström told TT.


"Speaking against"
Andreas Hörnedal is a research manager and expert on airborne weapons at the Total Defence Research Institute (FOI).

- The news itself has a very unclear source. My assessment of the pictures that the Swedish Armed Forces published, which in themselves were quite low-resolution, was that the planes looked completely unarmed, and that applies to all the planes, he says.

Defence debater Johan Wiktorin also questions the information.

- The way they flew and manoeuvred speaks against the kind of behaviour they should have with such cargo, he says.


A sting operation?
Early on it was claimed that the two attack planes were armed with Kh-32 nuclear missiles. But it is a missile that is very large, weighs about 5.5 tonnes and is carried on another aircraft (a TU 22M3 strategic bomber), according to Andreas Hörnedal.

During the Armed Forces' weekly press briefing, Daniel Olsson, deputy head of the Military Intelligence and Security Service (Must), was asked about TV4 News' information.

Daniel Olsson said that Must does not comment on the arming of other countries because it could reveal Sweden's ability to investigate foreign planes.

- We do not go into arming. But what I can say is that the violation in no way changes the threat picture against Sweden. We see no increased threat. Generally speaking, it is important to be aware that information about nuclear weapons can be used as psychological influence. It is a way of making a point and of intimidating people when information about nuclear weapons is provided. It is very important to be aware of this and to be very critical of sources," said Daniel Olsson.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)