Milo ÖN

Övre Norrlands militärområde (Milo ÖN)
Active	1942–1993
Country	Sweden
Allegiance	Swedish Armed Forces
Type	Military area
Role	Multi (Sea, Air and Land)
Part of	Swedish Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Boden

Milo ÖN (Swedish: Övre Norrlands militärområde, Upper Norrland Military Area) was a Swedish military area, a command of the Swedish Armed Forces that had operational control over Upper Norrland, for most time of its existence corresponding to the area covered by the counties of Västerbotten and Norrbotten. The headquarters of Milo ÖN were located in Boden.

History

Milo ÖN was created in 1966 along with five other military areas as part of a reorganisation of the administrative divisions of the Swedish Armed Forces. It can be seen as the successor of VI. militärområdet (VI. Military Area) created in 1942, but that did not have the same tasks as Milo ÖN. The military area consisted of the land covered by the above-mentioned counties. In 1993, the number of military areas of Sweden was decreased to three, and as a consequence of that, Milo ÖN was merged with Milo NN to create a new military area, Milo N.

Units 1989

In peacetime the Upper Norrland Military Area consisted of the following units, which were training recruits for wartime units:

• Upper Norrland Military Area (Milo ÖN), in Boden
  • Army units:
    • K 4 - Norrland Dragoon Regiment, in Arvidsjaur, training Norrland Jägers
    • I 19/P 5 - Norrbotten Regiment with Norrbotten Tank Battalion, in Boden
    • I 20/Fo 61 - Västerbotten Regiment / Västerbotten Defense Area in Umeå
    • I 22/Fo 66 - Lapland Jäger Regiment / Kiruna Defense Area, in Kiruna
    • A 8/Fo 63 - Boden Artillery Regiment / Boden Defense Area, in Boden
    • Ing 3 - Boden Engineer Regiment, in Boden
    • S 3 - Norrland Signal Regiment, in Boden
    • Lv 7 - Luleå Air Defence Regiment, in Luleå
    • AF 1 - Norrbotten Army Aviation Battalion, at Boden Helicopter Airfield, with Bell 204C and Bell 206A utility helicopters, and one squadron of 10x Bo 105CB3 anti-tank helicopters
    • Fo 67 - Kalix Defense Area, in Kalix
    • Boden Fortress
  • Air Force units:
    • F 21/Se ÖN - Norrbotten Wing / Air Defense Sector Upper Norrland, in Luleå
      • 211th Recce Squadron, with SF 37 Viggen photo reconnaissance aircraft and SH 37 Viggen maritime reconnaissance/strike aircraft
      • 212th Fighter Squadron, with JA 37 Viggen fighter aircraft
      • 213th Fighter Squadron, with JA 37 Viggen fighter aircraft

In wartime the Upper Norrland Military Area would have activated the following major land units, as well as a host of smaller units:

• 15th Division, in Boden
  • NB 19 - Norrbotten Brigade, a Type 85 Norrland Brigade (optimized for arctic/winter warfare) based on the I 19/P 5 - Norrbotten Regiment
  • NB 50 - Lapland Brigade, a Type 85 Norrland Brigade based on the I 20 - Västerbotten Regiment
  • 8x Norrland Jäger battalions
  • 3x Self-propelled Artillery Battalions, with 8x Bandkanon 1 each

Commanders

See also

• List of Swedish military areas

References