Sweden Commissions New Signals Intelligence Vessel HSwMS Artemis
Saab handed over signals intelligence ship HSwMS Artemis over to the Swedish Navy in April 2023. On 3 April, Artemis was officially commissioned during a ceremony at Sweden’s largest naval base at Karlskrona.
Jimmie Adamsson, the Swedish Navy’s Chief Public affairs, shared a short video from the ceremony, and noted in another post that Artemis “is big enough to be used out of the Baltic or swedish AOI. She will provide intelligence for the alliance where it is needed the most.”
FRA Director General Björn Lyrvall officiated the christening of the new vessel along with the head of the Swedish Navy Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum. FRA, Sweden’s Defense Radio Agency, is a civil authority under the Ministry of Defence and is part of Sweden’s intelligence service. Artemis is owned and crewed by the Swedish Navy but is placed at the FRA’s disposal for signals intelligence work.
In a statement FRA noted that “after the forty years that the ship HMS Orion has been the platform for FRA’s signals intelligence in the Baltic Sea, it is worn out and in need of a successor.” Orion was launched in 1984 and plans to replace her were first announced in 2010. The keel of Artemis was laid in 2018, at the Polish shipyard Nauta in Gdynia before being completed at the Saab Kockum’s yard in Karlskrona in 2022.
During the commissioning ceremony Rear Admiral Ewa Skoog Haslum said:
“Marine traditions are important to us. Our ships are with us for a long time, sometimes several generations of personnel have served on the same hull. That’s why occasions like this, which provide both an end and a beginning, are important. They provide perspective and a point of reference when we look back and look forward.”
Saab noted in 2023 that “in addition to the Signals Intelligence equipment installed by FRA, the ship is equipped with sensors for naval intelligence.” The vessel is just under 75 meters in length, has a 14 meter beam, a gross tonnage of 3,000 tonnes and is powered by 4 diesel generators producing 990kw. In November 2022, Poland signed a contract with Saab worth €620 Million for a pair of signals intelligence vessels based on the Artemis‘ design.