In secret rock chambers in Norway, the US Navy pre-stores munitions.

These are combat vehicles and ammunition needed in the event of a military conflict in Scandinavia or the surrounding area.

It is equipment and supplies for 15,000 soldiers that will last for 30 days, what is known so far.

A large part of the equipment, including tanks, is located in rock chambers near Trondheim and Oslo.

The idea is that Marine Corps soldiers will be transported from the United States to Norway.

Then combat equipment is in place.

Pre-storage in Norway began during the Cold War in the early 1980s.

Humvees in the Frigaard rock chamber, one of six places where the navy states that they pre-store munitions and supplies for 15,000 soldiers.

Photo: US Marine Corps 2016

The US Marine Corps shows an M1A1 tank pre-stored in Norway.

Photo: US Marine Corps 2016

Important cog

The Marine Corps is a kind of elite unit with high readiness that must be able to be deployed quickly in a military conflict.

They are an important cog in Sweden's military cooperation with the United States, the government believes.

They have been since Olof Palme (S) took office as Prime Minister in 1969, in the middle of the Vietnam War.

Then the collaboration was top secret and the truth spread in rounds - much later, including on SVT.

Protection on Swedish territory

But now for the first time, Sweden's Minister of Defense Peter Hultqvist (S) says pretty much straight out that the Swedish military will protect the US Marine Corps on Swedish territory.

"It is about the protection of the transport routes from Trondheim that can be used in a crisis situation," he told SVT on Monday.

The re-establishment of the regiments in Sollefteå and Falun and other military reinforcements announced on Monday are thus mainly about protecting NATO countries' military transports in Sweden.

And on the other hand, it is a logical consequence of an agreement with the NATO defense alliance.

American Marine Corps soldiers in Norway.

Photo: US Marine Corps 15 September 2020

Host country support - crisis in the Baltics

In September 2014, Sweden signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with NATO on Host Nation Support.

Barely two years later, the Riksdag approved the agreement by a large majority.

According to the agreement, Sweden can provide military support to NATO's military units on Swedish territory.

This applies to a conflict in Sweden, but it is considered particularly important in a military conflict on the other side of the Baltic Sea, in the Baltics, when American soldiers have to pass through Sweden.

Then Sweden can protect the transport routes for the navy.

It will probably also have to be shipped across the Baltic Sea.

There are also bilateral agreements between Sweden and the United States.

Tripwire

In the Baltics, there are already US and other NATO countries' military units that will act as a first "stumbling block" for Russia in the event of a military conflict.

Then-President Barack Obama began the process of deploying US troops near Russia.

When Donald Trump took office as president in January 2017, tanks began rolling into the Baltics from Poland, which was historic.

Then the United States established its first military ever in Eastern Europe - an entire armored brigade in Poland, to which Russia reacted.

Last summer, Donald Trump said he would withdraw troops from Europe.

So far, the Pentagon has done the opposite.

Some security policy experts believe that US security policy is giving different signals and are schizophrenic right now.

In a few weeks, there will be a presidential election in the United States.

It can be crucial for the cornerstone of Swedish defense planning - the "transatlantic link".