I am pleased to share a new article co-authored with Lt Col Dr Lars Henåker, published in Kungl. Krigsvetenskapsakademiens Tidskrift, the journal of The Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences. The article appears in issue no. 1/2026, which is a theme issue focusing on the army.
In “Fågel Fenix: Divisionens strid och taktik i en nutida operativ kontext” [Phoenix Rising: Division-level Combat and Tactics in a Contemporary Operational Context], we examine the renewed relevance of the division as a command level in the Swedish Army. Against the background of Sweden’s NATO membership, the war in Ukraine, and the increasing complexity of contemporary land warfare, the article asks what the division adds beyond the brigade level and how it can be used in combat.
The article, written in Swedish, examines the renewed relevance of the division as a command level in the Swedish Army. Against the background of Sweden’s NATO membership, the war in Ukraine, and the increasing complexity of contemporary land warfare, we ask what the division adds beyond the brigade level and how it can be used in combat.
Drawing on observations from the Swedish Army Staff Exercise 2022 (ASÖ22), the article analyses division-level command and tactics through eight tactical elements: deployment, aggressive reconnaissance, manoeuvre, breakthrough, high tempo, surprise, shock, and organisational breakdown. We argue that the division has re-emerged as a critical level for coordinating brigades, enabling manoeuvre, sustaining combat power, and creating the conditions for decisive action in a complex operational environment.
Reference:
Henåker, Lars and Weissmann, Mikael, “Fågel Fenix: Divisionens strid och taktik i en nutida operativ kontext”, Kungliga Krigsvetenskapsakademiens Tidskrift, no. 1, 2026, pp. 52–75. Full text.
