Chief of Army (Sweden)

In 1937, the staff agency "Chief of the Army" (Swedish: Chefen för armén, CA) was created to lead the army in peace time. The CA would under the King in Council exercise the highest military leadership of the Land Defense (Swedish: Lantförsvaret). At his side, the CA had an Army Staff to assist the CA in his duties.^[2] Before 1937 the Chief of the General Staff was considered to be the Chief of Army, but he was not usually to the rank of chief, but formally only the king's chief of staff in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. The oldest general was chairman of the special preparatory body called the Generals Commission (Generalskommissionen).^[3]

Following a larger reorganization of the Swedish Armed Forces in 1994, the staff agency Chief of the Army ceased to exist as an independent agency. Instead, the post Chief of Army Command (Swedish: Chefen för arméledningen) was created at the then newly instituted Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters. In 1998, the Swedish Armed Forces was again reorganized. Most of the duties of the Chief of Army Command were transferred to the newly instituted post of "Inspector General of the Army" (Swedish: generalinspektören för armén). The post is similar to that of the "Inspector General of the Swedish Navy" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för marinen) and the "Inspector General of the Swedish Air Force" (Swedish: Generalinspektören för flygvapnet).^[4] It was later renamed to "Inspector of the Army" (Swedish: Arméinspektören) on 1 January 2003.^[5] The position of Inspector of the Army had previously been used in from 1942 to 1949 for the head of the Army Inspectorate (Arméinspektionen).

On 1 January 2014, the "Chief of Army" (Swedish: Arméchefen, AC) position was reinstated in the Swedish Armed Forces. The position has not the same duties as before.^[6]

Tasks of the Chief of Army:^[7]

• Lead the units which the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development has distributed
• To the Chief of Swedish Armed Forces Training and Development propose the development of the units' abilities
• Being the foremost representative of the units
• Represent the units and the area of ability in international contacts

The command flag of the Chief of Army is drawn by Brita Grep and embroidered by hand by the Kedja studio, Heraldica. Blazon: "Fessed in yellow and blue; on yellow two blue batons of command with sets of yellow crowns placed two and one in saltire, on blue two yellow swords in saltire."^[8]

• Chief of Air Force
• Chief of Navy