As part of our recent visit to the Kingdom of Sweden, we also visited the 18th Gotland Regiment on Gotland Island in the middle of the Baltic Sea. The island is of high strategic importance due to its location, where from this area you can control all air and naval operations within the Baltic Sea. The Swedes are well aware of the importance of the 3,184 km² island in the context of the war in Ukraine, which is why there are 300 professional soldiers and 300 volunteers (Home Guard). Within two years, the garrison will be expanded by another 200 people, with the future vision of having a total of 4,000 fully mobilised soldiers and volunteers on the island.

Video: Reportage – CV90 Infantry Fighting Vehicle: Live firing on Gotland / CZ DEFENCE

We then asked Major Håkan Darvall about the current and future equipment and operations of the Gotland regiment, who also described the current Swedish version of the CV9040 IFV.

We also interviewed Mikael Segerman, Hägglunds' sales manager for the Czech Republic, who serves as the deputy commander of the 181st Armoured Battalion, the manoeuvre element of the Gotland Regiment, as a reservist. Mikael knows everything there is to know about CV90s, as we saw during our extensive coverage of CV90s at NATO Days in Ostrava.

Picture: Mikael Segerman | Michal Pivoňka / CZ DEFENCE

We asked Mikael Segerman to give us a brief description of his military career, including his experience with the CV90. Mike also described to us the strategic importance of the island of Gotland, which is also the reason for the increasing number of troops and military equipment on the island. There are also CV90 vehicles in various variants serving on the island and we had the opportunity to take part in some of the exercises including live firing from a CV90 Mk0 IFV, with the crew reliably hitting all targets with their 40mm Bofors cannon (which, by the way, were pretty good shots despite the ear defenders).

Picture: Live fire from the CV90 Mk0 BVP | Michal Pivoňka / CZ DEFENCE

We did not hesitate to ask a few questions to the young crew of the IFV, namely the vehicle commander, Private Larsson, the gunner, Private Branelius, and the driver, Private Lopey.

We also asked the regimental commander Colonel Magnus Frykvall for a short interview, who has a lot of experience with the vehicle in all positions (driver, gunner, vehicle commander) and served with it in a foreign mission in Afghanistan. By the way, we also had the opportunity to get acquainted with the reloading system of the Swedish CV90 Mk0 vehicles, where this version has the ability to fire 24 (3 inserted magazines of 8 rounds each) 40 mm calibre rounds at a time. The loading system of the CV90 MkIV IFV (regardless of the chosen calibre of 30 or 35 mm) has a much more sophisticated system in the form of a dual-lane loading system, which allows a quick choice between two types of ammunition. The actual storage of the rounds is also much more efficient in the latest version of the CV90.

Picture: CV90 Mk0 | Michal Pivoňka / CZ DEFENCE

Thus, we learned a lot about the CV90 during our three-day visit to Sweden, and in conclusion, I dare say that our soldiers from the 7th Mechanised Brigade have a lot to look forward to.

Picture: Moment from a training exercise of a part of the 18th Gotland Regiment with CV90 Mk0 IFV | Michal Pivoňka / CZ DEFENCE

Picture: Moment from a training exercise of a part of the 18th Gotland Regiment with CV90 Mk0 IFV | Michal Pivoňka / CZ DEFENCE