Owe Wiktorin

Owe Wiktorin
Born	7 May 1940 Motala, Sweden
Allegiance	Sweden
Service/branch	Swedish Air Force
Years of service	1964–2000
Rank	General
Commands held	Chief of the Defence Staff Southern Military Area Supreme Commander
Awards	H. M. The King's Medal

Owe Erik Axel Wiktorin (born 7 May 1940), is a Swedish Air Force General. General Wiktorin was Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces from 1994 to 2000.^[1] His time as Supreme Commander was marked by major cutbacks of the Swedish defense.^[2][3]

Biography

Wiktorin was born in Motala, Sweden and is the son of chief accountant Erik wiktorin and Esther Johnson. He passed his studentexamen in 1961 and was trained as a pilot at the Royal Air Force Flight Academy in Ljungbyhed from 1961 to 1962 eventually becoming an officer in the Air Force in 1964. Wiktorin studied at the Military Academy from 1971 to 1973 and at the Air Command and Staff College in the United States from 1979 to 1980.^[4] He served as a pilot 1964-69 and was Head of Division 1969-71.

He was head of the planning department at the Defence Staff 1980-83, deputy wing commander at F 4 Frösön 1983-84 and head of Section 1 of the Air Staff 1983-84. In 1986 he was promoted to major general and was appointed head of the planning management at the Defence Staff. In 1991 he became lieutenant general and chief of the Defence Staff and in 1992 he was appointed military commander of the Southern Military District. In 1994 he was promoted to general and became Supreme Commander of the Swedish Armed Forces. He stayed in that position until 2000.^[5]

In 1985 he became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences.^[5] On 2 October 1998, Wiktorin became honorary member number 20 of the Lund Academic Officer Society (Lunds Akademiska Officerssällskap).^[6] On 6 June 2000 he was awarded the H. M. The King's Medal of the 12th size in gold with chain^[7] "for outstanding work for the Swedish defense." Wiktorin was chairman of the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management (Svenska Jägareförbundet) from 2003 to 2007 and then became an honorary member.^[8]

Personal life

In 1965, Wiktorin married in Cajs Gårding (born 1943), the daughter of engineer Folke Gårding and Signe (née Domeij).^[4] Together they have two sons.^[2]

Bibliography

• Wiktorin, Owe (2000). Nya krav - nytt försvar [New requirements - new defense] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten.
• Wiktorin, Owe (1999). Från pengapolitik till säkerhetspolitik: Centralförbundet Folk och försvars konferens Sälen 24/1 1999 [From monetary policy to security policy: Central Association of People and Defense's conference, Sälen 24 January 1999] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten.
• Wiktorin, Owe (1998). En förändrad värld - ett förändrat försvar: Centralförbundet Folk och försvars konferens, Sälen 18/1 1998 [A changed world - a changed defense: Central Association of People and Defense's conference, Sälen 18 January 1998] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten.

References

1. "Tabell: Sveriges överbefälhavare". Nationalencyklopedin (in Swedish). Retrieved 2010-05-10.
2. Wennman, Peter (14 November 1998). "Han har order att lägga ner". Aftonbladet (in Swedish). Retrieved 30 July 2015.
3. Lönegård, Claes (21 March 2011). "Soloåkaren". Fokus (in Swedish) (11). Retrieved 30 July 2015.
4. Uddling, Hans; Paabo, Katrin, eds. (1992). Vem är det: svensk biografisk handbok. 1993 [Who is it: Swedish biographical handbook. 1993] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Norstedt. p. 1190. ISBN 91-1-914072-X.
5. Kjellander, Rune (1996). Kungl Krigsvetenskapsakademien: Svenska krigsmanna sällskapet (till 1805), Kungl Krigsvetenskapsakademien : biografisk matrikel med porträttgalleri 1796-1995 [Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences: Swedish soldier's Society (until 1805), Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences: Biographical roll with portrait gallery from 1796-1995] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Akad. p. 196. ISBN 91-630-4181-2.
6. "Försvarsutställning-98 -Ett vassare försvar-" [Defence Exhibit-98 -An edgier defence-] (PDF). Laoslund.se (in Swedish). Lunds Akademiska Officerssällskap. 2 October 1998. p. 1. Retrieved 30 July 2015.
7. "Owe Wictorin" (in Swedish). Kungahuset.se. Retrieved 21 March 2013.
8. Nilson-Dag, Christina (2007-05-07). "Torsten Mörner ny ordförande i Svenska Jägareförbundet efter Owe Wiktorin" [Torsten Mörner new chairman of the Swedish Association for Hunting and Wildlife Management after Owe Wiktorin] (in Swedish). Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 2015-07-30.

Further reading

• Christofferson, Lars, ed. (2000). Förändring, utveckling, nytänkande: Owe Wiktorin överbefälhavare 1994-2000 [Change, development, innovation: Owe Wiktorin Supreme Commander 1994-2000] (in Swedish). Stockholm: Försvarsmakten.