AMONG THE MORE stalwart American allies throughout the Cold War and the war on terror one can number Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and . . . Sweden. Wait! Sweden? The steadfastly "non-aligned"? Home of the cradle-to-grave welfare state, of the pacifist Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)? The country that lambasted us throughout the Vietnam War and which has regularly criticized our actions in Iraq? That Sweden?

Yes, that Sweden. For all its obvious disagreements with the United States, Sweden served as a bulwark against the USSR from 1945 until the fall of the Soviet Union. Sweden may have been officially "non-aligned," but there was never any doubt of whose side the country was on in the Cold War. Sweden maintained one of the largest military establishments not only in Europe, but in the world, and it was not aimed at Norway, or Denmark, or Germany.

Sweden's neighbor Norway shares a short but strategically vital border with Russia, up along the icy Barents Sea, through which the Soviet Northern Fleet would have to sortie to interdict convoys carrying reinforcements from the United States to Europe in the event of a Soviet attack on NATO. Russia shares a longer border with Finland, which had been reduced since the end of World War II to a compliant Soviet satellite (that's why they called it "Finlandization"). In the event of war, it was generally assumed that the Soviet Army would rapidly attack Norway both directly and through Finland to seize control of the North Cape and assure its access to the Norwegian Sea.

Yet, until well into the 1980s, NATO earmarked very few forces to defend this vital northern flank. They were able to do this because Swedish forces stood ready to block any Soviet advance in that direction. Though not a member of NATO, and officially "neutral" in the great East-West showdown, Sweden let it be known that it would not tolerate any aggressive activity in its own backyard. And it backed up that resolution with a large and robust military force that included more than 800 front-line combat aircraft (during its heyday in the 1960s), as well as a large active and territorial army (including many units specializing in Arctic warfare), and a strong navy that included excellent diesel-electric submarines and fast missile patrol boats to block the Soviet Baltic Fleet.

As a "non-aligned' country, Sweden sought autonomy in military equipment, including tanks, aircraft, submarines, ships, and artillery. Like Israel, it tended to optimize its systems for the environment in which it would fight. Thus, Swedish aircraft such as the Saab J.35 Draaken and the JA/AJ.37 Viggen were designed to take off and land from short stretches of highway rather than from fixed bases, and were capable of undertaking multiple missions with minimal maintenance. Swedish submarines and patrol boats were designed to operate in the shallow waters and archipelagos of the Baltic. The remarkable Stridsvagen 103 "S-Tank" had no turret, but elevated its 105mm gun using a unique hydropneumatic suspension that raised and lowered the entire vehicle. Swedish ordnance, produced by the state-owned Bofors company, had a worldwide reputation for everything from mortars to anti-aircraft guns, to torpedoes and artillery shells.