Backman graduated from the
Royal Swedish Naval Academy in 1953 and was commissioned as a naval officer in the
Swedish Navy the same year. He served on during her first long voyage, and then he spent the summer as an executive officer on the coastal defence ship while she was moored as an engineering school. After a year at the Fleet Basic Training School (
Värnpliktsskolan) in
Karlskrona and the Weapons Officer School at
Berga Naval Training Schools, he followed several years of service on destroyers, motor torpedo boats, and torpedo boats, interrupted by teaching service at the Berga Naval Training Schools, a general course, and an advanced torpedo technology course at the
Swedish Armed Forces Staff College from 1963 to 1965. In 1969, Backman was promoted to lieutenant commander, He was promoted to captain from 1 October 1978. In May 1980, he was appointed head of Technical Administration at the
West Coast Naval Base/
West Coast Naval Command in
Gothenburg. He attended the
Swedish National Defence College in 1982. With a budget of 1.2 billion
Swedish krona, the 12 cm mobile coastal artillery gun m/80,
anti-submarine technology, and the
Stockholm-class corvette were developed, among other things. Backman's tenure as the head of the Main Navy Materiel Department at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) almost entirely coincided with the
intense submarine defence activities of the 1980s. The Swedish Navy and the FMV were faced with war-like demands to rapidly and unconventionally develop, acquire, and put into operational use new weapons and new ship platforms to address the previously seriously neglected resource needs for the Navy's submarine defence capability. New surface combat vessels and submarines were designed and constructed. New command systems, underwater weapons, and sensors were developed and procured. This work was carried out within FMV in close collaboration with the Navy Command, units, and a significant portion of the Swedish defence industry. Extensive cooperation with the defence industries of other countries was also established. Within the then
Swedish National Defence Research Institute, the largest collective defence research project in many decades, the "Submarine Defence Project" (
Ubåtsskyddsprojektet) was conducted, in which FMV played a significant role. The close cooperation between the stakeholders, FMV, and the industry led to a highly successful and internationally acclaimed development of new ships, submarines, and weapons. In particular, the new stealth technology for ships that was developed during Backman's tenure, including the new trial platform , attracted significant international interest. He was also instrumental in the development of the
Norrköping-class missile boat. The work was extensive, under tight time constraints, and took place in a complex world with new and partly unconventional forms. Backman retired in 1989 and was succeeded by Rear Admiral
Torbjörn Hultman. ==Other work==