Sweden Orders New Saab Trackfire ARES 30 mm Weapon Systems to Defend Against Drones.

Saab has received a new order worth about $160m from Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration for Trackfire Remote Weapon Stations, including the new Trackfire ARES 30 mm configuration, with deliveries from 2026 to 2028. The procurement strengthens Swedish Army and amphibious counter-drone and self-defense capabilities as Sweden adapts its forces for NATO operations and high-threat littoral environments.

Saab announced on 9 January 2026 that the company has received a new order from Sweden’s Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) for the Trackfire Remote Weapon Station, valued at about $160m, with deliveries scheduled from 2026 to 2028. Saab says the purchase is intended to support both the Swedish Army and the Amphibious Battalion 2030 effort, a modernization drive built around future amphibious forces and their equipment. The order notably includes Trackfire ARES, a new configuration centered on a 30x113 mm M230LF Bushmaster chain gun to deliver an organic counter-drone capability.
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Saab Trackfires ARES delivers stabilized 30 mm firepower with advanced electro-optical sensors and proximity-fuzed ammunition, giving Swedish Army and amphibious units protected, mobile capability to defeat drones, small boats, and ground targets day and night from combat boats and vehicles in Sweden's littoral and base-defense environment (Picture source: Saab).

FMV’s own announcement, published the same day, adds the missing operational “why now”: Stockholm is replacing weapon stations and related capabilities that have been donated to Ukraine, while simultaneously expanding self-protection for several Swedish platform types and accelerating counter-UAS fielding. FMV describes the systems as weapon stations with integrated sensors and effectors intended for qualified self-defence against sea, land, and air targets, including both manned and unmanned threats, and confirms the package includes standalone operator training systems, integration support, and continued product development. In FMV’s telling, the contract total is about SEK 1.4 billion, signed on 19 December 2025, with first deliveries planned within 15 months.

Trackfire is a stabilized, network-capable fire-control and sensor suite built to keep precision on target while the host platform is moving hard in rough terrain or heavy seas. Saab’s design revolves around what it calls Stabilised Independent Line of Sight, where the sensor module is decoupled from the weapon axes and recoil effects, allowing the operator to hold the sight on target, lase continuously through the engagement, and feed a fire-control solution that includes 3D target prediction. That matters in the real world because small drones, fast boats, and fleeting shoreline targets rarely present the clean, steady aiming picture that older manual mounts assumed.

The ARES variant ordered for Sweden is built around the M230LF, a link-fed 30x113 mm chain gun chosen specifically for the anti-drone problem set, where rate of fire, hit probability, and ammunition effectiveness matter more than sheer caliber. Saab states that Trackfire ARES uses proximity-fuzed ammunition to neutralize drones, aiming to cut the number of rounds required per kill without sacrificing lethality. Northrop Grumman, the weapon’s manufacturer, describes the M230LF as firing advanced 30x113 mm ammunition, including proximity rounds, and notes that the weapon family underpins US Army short-range air defense and counter-UAS applications in the XM914 variant. In published material, the M230LF’s firing rate is 200 rounds per minute, and its counter-UAS engagement range is given out to 2,000 meters, a practical envelope that sits above typical 7.62 mm solutions and gives commanders standoff against small UAS before they reach grenade-drop or ISR handoff distance.

Saab’s published sensor data illustrates why the system is attractive for Sweden’s mixed littoral and land defence needs. The Trackfire ARES fact sheet lists a cooled medium-wave thermal imager (3.6 to 4.2 µm), day camera zoom coverage, and an eye-safe 1.55 µm laser rangefinder with a pulse repetition frequency above 20 Hz and a stated target-range performance beyond 6 km for a NATO-standard 2.3 m by 2.3 m target, with distance-measurement accuracy on the order of meters. The director unit rotates continuously through 360 degrees with elevation from -20 to +55 degrees, and Saab quotes maximum slew rates of 120 degrees per second with high acceleration for fast transitions, key when a drone pops over a treeline or a small craft breaks cover between islands. The station’s director unit weight is listed around 280 kg, excluding weapons and ammunition, an important constraint for Sweden’s small craft, where topweight and center-of-gravity penalties quickly erode seakeeping and speed.

Trackfire’s tactical value for Sweden comes from combining protected operation with precision effects in exactly the environments where Sweden expects to fight: cluttered coastlines, archipelagos, and dispersed bases that must survive first contact long enough for reinforcement. Saab emphasizes that Trackfire can be operated from below deck or under armour, maintaining crew survivability without giving up situational awareness, since imagery and targeting data can be distributed inside the platform and shared across systems. The company also highlights dual-operator configurations to shorten sensor-to-shooter timelines, and integration paths that range from stand-alone mounts to fully networked subsystems tied into battle management or combat management systems. In practical terms, that is how a weapon station becomes a node in a broader kill chain rather than a single gunner’s field of view.

For Swedish amphibious forces, the “what it will be mounted on” question is answered most clearly by FMV’s wording: the initial procurement replaces weapon stations within the amphibious battalions and the Navy’s patrol boat company that were donated to Ukraine, and it also covers additional weapon stations for the ongoing new production of combat boats for the amphibious battalions. Saab’s own history makes the platform link explicit: earlier FMV orders placed Trackfire on the Combat Boat 90 family, specifically the Stridsbåt 90 HSM used by Sweden’s amphibious forces. FMV has also described Stridsbåt 90HSM as fielding a remotely operated, stabilized weapon station configured for a 12.7 mm machine gun or automatic grenade launcher with a 7.62 mm Ksp 58 as a parallel weapon, delivering day and night engagement and long-range surveillance from a 40+ knot, 15-meter combat boat designed to move troops and fight in the littorals. The 2026 order, in other words, is not a brand-new Swedish concept; it is an expansion and adaptation of an existing Swedish fit, now being pushed toward higher-end self-protection and counter-UAS roles.

On the land side, Saab’s January 2026 statement says the procurement serves the Swedish Army as well as amphibious forces, and Saab’s own imagery and product description show Trackfire mounted on a Swedish Armed Forces TGB15 vehicle. That matters because Sweden’s counter-UAS requirement is not confined to ships. Dispersed basing, protection of airfields, and security of logistics nodes are now daily realities for NATO’s northern flank, and Sweden has already been testing those realities outside its borders. Saab’s reporting on the Swedish Air Force’s “Loke” counter-drone concept describes Trackfire as part of a modular C-UAS solution combining a Giraffe 1X radar with Trackfire weapon stations and electronic warfare components, deployed during Sweden’s NATO operations at Malbork Air Base in Poland in 2025 to protect allied facilities, including a logistics hub supporting aid to Ukraine. That operational precedent explains why FMV stresses that the new contract can also form a subsystem within drone defence and includes a government-driven acquisition tied to counter-UAS capability.

The deeper strategic logic sits in Sweden’s security shift since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s subsequent NATO accession. Sweden officially joined NATO on 7 March 2024, ending its long-standing non-alignment and locking its geography into Alliance planning for the Baltic Sea and High North. For Stockholm, that creates two simultaneous pressures: Sweden must be able to fight for its own coastline, islands, and critical infrastructure from day one, and it must be able to plug into NATO’s force posture, including reinforcing allies and hosting allied forces under threat. FMV’s Amphibious Battalion 2030 program language reflects this reality by focusing on coastal areas and on small, sea-mobile platforms that integrate command, sensors, and effects to operate across peace, crisis, and war under evolving technological threats. Trackfire, especially in its ARES counter-drone configuration, is a very practical piece of that puzzle because it gives Sweden a mobile, export-independent “hard kill” layer that can ride on the same boats and vehicles Sweden already fields or is building.

From an equipment standpoint, Sweden’s need is also brutally simple: the drone threat has collapsed the old separation between frontline and rear area, and Sweden’s dispersed amphibious and base-defence units cannot afford exquisite, missile-only solutions for every quadcopter or loitering munition. A stabilized 30 mm chain gun firing proximity ammunition offers a cost-per-engagement logic that complements, rather than replaces, higher-tier air defense. Saab’s own ARES material even frames Trackfire as part of a wider Swedish toolkit that can integrate jammers and connect with other effectors, aligning with Sweden’s broader layered approach to air and base defense. For amphibious operations, the same station still provides the classic mission set Sweden cares about: suppressive fire during landings, precise engagement of small craft, and the ability to scan and fight in low light or poor weather while the boat is moving fast through narrow channels.

Sweden is buying time and resilience. By restoring donated inventory, standardizing an integrated sensor-and-effector station across multiple Swedish platform types, and adding a 30 mm counter-drone punch that can travel with maneuver units, Stockholm is hardening the exact seams that Russia’s style of warfare tries to tear open first: coastal approaches, small bases, logistics corridors, and command nodes. In the Baltic, where a target can shift from a fast inshore craft to a low drone in seconds, a turret that can slew quickly, stay stabilized, compute a 3D firing solution, and engage from protected positions. It is a survival requirement that lets Sweden’s amphibious and army units keep fighting long enough for the rest of NATO’s mass to arrive.

Written by Evan Lerouvillois, Defense Analyst.

Evan studied International Relations, and quickly specialized in defense and security. He is particularly interested in the influence of the defense sector on global geopolitics, and analyzes how technological innovations in defense, arms export contracts, and military strategies influence the international geopolitical scene.