Styrke 2025
Styrke 2025 (Acrean Nordic: Force 2025) is a modernisation and reform program of the Acrean Armed Forces to optimise, change, and modernise in order to meet its anticipated operational requirements for the 2020s and beyond, which began in 2016 and is scheduled to be completed by 2025. The program was first conceptualised in 2011, in the aftermath of the Zemplen War. The conflict was Acrea's first expeditionary war in over two decades, and presented both a substantial challenge and vital learning experience. Following the war, Acrean military planners noted the emergence of new technologies first fielded during the war, such as 5th-generation stealth aircraft, cyber-warfare, and large-scale drone use, as well as the scale of attrition in a high-intensity, near total-war scenario. The program's main impetus was the Midsummer War in 2015, which reinforced lessons learned in Ruvelka and led to implementation of the program beginning in 2016.
Styrke 2025 focuses on four areas: funding, personnel development, modernisation, and doctrine.
Funding
In order to meet Styrke 2025's objectives, then-Minister of Defence Jürgen von Edel advocated for a gradual increase of military spending at a rate of .1% per year, which would cap at 5% by 2023 to be maintained until 2025.
Personnel
The intended total active-duty strength of the Acrean Armed Forces was reduced from 2015 in order to reflect new recruitment constraints necessitated by increased compensation as well as increased mental and physical standards. The maximimum active duty strength from the 2021 reforms for each branch is: 435,000 for the Army, 165,000 for the RAMC, 325,000 for the RAAF, and 300,000 for the Navy. As of 2022, the Acrean military is just below these numbers and reported Riksdag that it is slightly understrength to a degree not impacting overall readiness.
A new set of physical fitness tests and standards, retroactively called Markstyrkor Stridskonditionstest 2020 or MSKT 2020, for the Army and RAMC were developed beginning in 2016 and first rolled out to the entire force in 2018. The new standards were designed to be conceptually different than previous tests, focusing on activities which reflect real-world combat scenarios based on the Army and RAMC's experiences in the Zemplen and Midsummer Wars. MSKT 2020 standards for the Army and RAMC are slightly different, with RAMC minimum standards being higher. Feedback from the new tests and standards during its first two years from 2018 and 2019 showed the desired result of a notable increase in readiness and physical capability among combat troops, but also came with the challenge of the standards being too demanding for non-combat and reserve troops. To address this, tiered standards based on occupational specialty were introduced in 2020, the same year the standards were finalised.
Both the RAAF and Navy introduced increased standards for demanding combat roles, most notably for combat aviators for whom pay was increased significantly. The shift towards integrated networking and 5th generation tactical combat aircraft saw a shift in the screening and selection for Acrean military aviators going into fighter aviation, which has been described as a shift in focus towards "thinking over flying". The RAAF also began to outsource non-critical administrative and support roles to civilian personnel, and increased its force of aircraft maintainers and other combat-critical support personnel. All branches of the military substantially increased their recruitment of cybersecurity personnel.
Technology
The development and fielding of new technology has been the most substantial and budgetarily intensive part of Styrke 2025. Acrean ground forces have become more mechanised, with the conversion of one marine division to a mechanised heavy marine division in the RAMC, and of 3 infantry divisions to mechanised divisions in the Army. The Integrated Battlefield Awareness System began to be fielded en masse in combat vehicles and aircraft in 2020, with the accompanying infantry VISR system following suit starting in 2022. Older vehicles are being supplemented and replaced by new ground combat systems such as the Strv 126 main battle tank and CVU-2 unmanned ground combat vehicle.