Swedish navy receives new SIGINT vessel

HSwMS Artemis will replace HSwMS Orion as Sweden's signals intelligence resource at sea. (Saab/Glenn Pettersson)

The Royal Swedish Navy (RSwN) has taken delivery of its new signals intelligence (SIGINT) ship, HSwMS Artemis (A 202).

The new vessel was formally handed over by the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) in Karlskrona, on 15 November, FMV announced the same day.

Artemis will replace the RSwN's existing SIGINT vessel HSwMS Orion (A 201), which has been in service since the early 1980s. As with its predecessor, Artemis will be used primarily to monitor and analyse communications traffic in the Baltic region.

Artemis was built by Saab under a contract awarded by FMV in 2017. The ship was partially built in Poland at Nauta Shiprepair Yard under subcontract to Saab in 2018 and was originally planned to enter service in 2020. However, following its launch in April 2019 Nauta ran into financial difficulties and Artemis was eventually towed to Karlskrona in 2021 to be completed by Saab Kockums. The vessel started sea trials in early November 2022 and Saab formally handed it over to the FMV on 27 April.

At 71 m and displacing around 2,300 tonnes, Artemis is significantly larger than Orion, which displaces 61 m and displaces around 1,400 tonnes at full load. The new SIGINT vessel also features improved electromagnetic compatibility characteristics, increased operational reliability, and improved working and living environments for personnel onboard.