Swedish Defence Research Agency

The Totalförsvarets Forskningsinstitut ( FOI ) ( to German research institute for defense ) is a Swedish research organization with headquarters in Kista. Its tasks are research and development in the field of defense and civil protection. It operates under the Swedish Ministry of Defence. In 2007, it employed approximately 1,000 people.

History

The FOI fell in 2001 from the merger of predecessor institutions Flygtekniska försöksanstalten, FFA and Försvarets forskningsanstalt, FOA forth.

The FFA was founded in 1940 in Bromma as a government research institute for the Swedish aerospace industry, mainly for military purposes.

The FOA was established in 1945 in turn from the merger of three institutions. Specifically, these were:

• The Försvarsväsendets kemiska institution, FKA, which was founded in 1937 and developed from the research projects relating to chemical weapons at the universities of Lund and Uppsala,
• The Militärfysiska institutet, MFIs that had arisen during the Second World War and
• Statens uppfinnarnämnd, SUN, which had been established in 1942 for the study of radar technology.

The FOA has been instrumental in the study of nuclear weapons until 1968 Sweden joined the NPT.