Air2030 - Current figures on offset transactions as of end of March 2025

 

With the specified command of PATRIOT Air Defense Systems and LIGHTNING II Combat Aircraft, Switzerland requested some Offset transactions in the amount of CHF 5.27 billion. The first 8 Aircraft will be built by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth (USA), the 28 others in Cameri (I). 4 aircrafts will be final assembled by RUAG in Emmen (project name RIGI).

Press release - Published on 25 April 2025

Current figures on offset transactions as of end of March 2025

Bern, 25.04.2025 — The Offset Register currently comprises seventeen offset obligations in the amount of CHF 5.27 billion, which must be awarded by foreign suppliers to Swiss companies. Of this, offset transactions in the amount of around CHF 2.69 billion have been carried out as at the end of March 2025.

The Register, which is updated on a quarterly basis, currently includes seventeen ongoing offset programmes with a total amount of CHF 5.27 billion. Of this, offset transactions for around CHF 2.69 billion have been carried out up to 31 March 2025. Since the last update of the Offset Register at the end of December 2024, no offset obligations have been terminated.

Project “Partially mobile passive sensors to expand the air picture”

The offset programme “Partially mobile passive sensors to expand the air picture” has been added. This comprises an offset obligation of CHF 10 million. These are mainly direct offsets, although indirect offsets may also be realised. On the part of Swiss industry, RUAG AG and CALAG AG will be involved in the form of direct offset transactions.

Programme Air2030

With the F-35A combat aircraft, the offset fulfilment is at around CHF 845 million at the end of March 2025, which corresponds to around 32% of the offset obligation of Lockheed Martin. With the long-range ground-based air defence system Patriot, offset transactions in the amount of around CHF 410 million have so far been carried out with Swiss companies, which corresponds to around 36% of the offset obligation of the US manufacturer Raytheon. Both offset obligations must be fulfilled by the end of 2034. By then, the following allocation keys must be complied with as far as possible between the regions: 65% of the recognised offset volume is attributable to German-speaking Switzerland, 30% to French-speaking Switzerland and 5% to Italian-speaking Switzerland. The fulfilment and the regional distribution will be continuously monitored by armasuisse and discussed with the supplier.

Banking Register

The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse updated the Banking Register with the figures at the end of March 2025 in addition to the Offset Register. The Banking Register contains seven ongoing banking agreements in which publication is planned. Foreign providers, the contract duration and the current credit balance are listed in the Banking Register. In addition, the commissioned Swiss companies and the regional distribution are also shown. A banking agreement can be concluded upon the request of a foreign provider if a future offset obligation is likely. It enables foreign providers to fulfil up to 20% of a future offset obligation through indirect offset transactions in Switzerland in advance.

Source 

RUAG opens new maintenance center in Payerne

Payerne is generating the most flighthours of Swiss Air Force's F/A-18 Fleet and all the bigger maintenance had to be done on the competence center in Emmen. With 12 new working places there can be made up to four big controls per year in Payerne now:

RUAG puts a new site into operation in Payerne

Bern, 03.05.2021 - The construction work for the new RUAG Ltd site on the military airfield in Payerne is now complete. At the beginning of April, the newly formed team was able to take possession of the first F/A-18 and begin working on it. Construction began in May 2020 in cooperation with the Swiss Air Force, and all twelve of the newly created posts have been filled.

With the construction of a new site on the military airfield in Payerne, RUAG Ltd now provides on-site maintenance for the Swiss Air Force in western Switzerland. In addition to the six employees already stationed in Payerne, twelve new posts have been created in the region, all of which have been filled. At the beginning of April, the plane panel beaters, plane mechanics and NDT inspectors (non-destructive testing, a special materials testing process) were able to take possession of the first F/A-18 and begin working on it. Every year, RUAG Ltd can conduct up to four major inspections on the F/A-18 while also providing support for minor inspections.

The extension work in Payerne has made the successful cooperation between RUAG and the VBS, dating back more than 30 years, even closer and more intensive. RUAG employees work side by side and post by post with the members of the Swiss Air Force and are in a position to improve the efficiency and efficacy of the service provision to the Air Force by bringing plane maintenance and operations geographically closer together.

While the need for major inspections at the main site in Emmen will be reduced somewhat with the launch of operations in Payerne, the overall level of services provided to the Air Force will remain the same in the future. With some of the burden being removed with the development of the new site, the RUAG Ltd employees in Emmen can now focus more of their attention on the F/A-18 restructuring program.

With about 7,000 F/A-18 movements per year, Payerne Airfield is the main Air Force site for fighter planes and the headquarters of the Air Police service. The target set by the Federal Council of being able to ensure the Air Police intervention capability 24/7 and 365 days a year was implemented at the end of last year.

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Address for enquiries

Kirsten Hammerich
Spokesperson RUAG AG
+41 58 467 05 11


Delphine Allemand
Spokesperson Armed Forces
+41 58 463 22 58

Last Antonov AN-124 for RUAG Emmen produced ATLAS rocket tops next week

 

Due new production factory in the United States, the Antonov AN-124 takes delivery of the upper rocket part for the last time in Emmen. ARR September 29th, DEP one day later.

The big transporter was seen about 32 times in the last 20 years in Emmen - mostly for ARIANE and ATLAS parts, but like seen on this picture also for humanitarian/technical aid in 2004. ARIANA parts will still be produced in Emmen, but transport of the parts will be via road/ship to Amsterdam. Only if time is limited, those parts will be transported by airplane.

Swiss Army Chooses Lockheed Martin’s Indago 3 UAS For Tactical Reconnaissance And Surveillance

Together with the bigger UAS of the type Hermes 900 (named ADS15 by Swiss Air Force), Swiss Army receives new drones for tactical use too.  Lockheed Martin’s Indago 3 was chosen. Both systems should be compatible with the software chosen.

Source: Lockheed Martin

Swiss Air Force's fastest Recce - the IAI/RUAG ADS-95 RANGER drone

Since the end of the Mach2 Mirage III RS 'AMIR' in 2003, our fastest Recce is 4.61m long, has an wingspan of 5.71m and has an Vmax of 220km/h ! The quality of the pictures are lower than those on the Mirage, but available in real time and with a range of 4 hours.

Swiss Army uses the Israeli-Swiss drone IAI/RUAG ADS-95 for reconaissance missions. The drone costs about 2.5 Mio SFr ($1.9million), 27 systems (including mobile equipment for command and control) where delivered beginning in 1999. An flighthour costs about 7300 SFr and about 40-60 flights are made for Swiss Border Patrol (Grenzschutz) each year.
The AufklärungsDrohnenSystem 95 is the evolution of the ADS-90 with increased range and charge.

ADS-90

Based on the IAI Ranger and built by F+W Emmen, this 1st drone of the Swiss Air Force had an MTOW of 270 kg with an maximum charge of 41 kg. With 240 km/h maximum speed a bit faster than the ADS-95.

Prototype XP-01 on a poster

 D-101 due Armeetage'99, Frauenfeld

ADS-95

The modified version of the ADS-90 with a MTOW of 275 kg and a maximum charge of 45 kg. Updated Sensors and support vehicles.

 Sometimes (sh)it happens - but without incident on humans/animals - see here for example

Production of ADS-95 systems for Finnish and Swiss Air Force

Here some video pictures published by the Swiss Air Force a couple of years ago:

With those little birds, the pictures are quit nice. German Luftwaffe published some actual footage of there sensors on Tornado aircraft, also capable for live-streaming to the headquarter:

Photo taken by the infrared sensor of the TORNADO:

 Photo edited by fusion of infrared and normal photo taken by TORNADO: 

Source of the German Air Force Tornado Pictures


ADS-15
After an evaluation of multiple modern systems (Long List included five systems, Short List and tests in Switzerland with two systems), Elbit won the competition with the Hermes 900. 'Swissification' consists of a motor change to Diesel and - due that change of gravity - longer wings. Swiss Air Force Insiders hopes the changes/tests in RUAG wind tunnel are paid by Elbit according an article in the NZZ newspaper of September 04th, 2016.


Official site of the Drohnen-Kommando 84

Four of the five temporarely grounded Hornets back in the air again

Four of the five temporarely grounded Hornets are back in the air again. Due the Inboard TEF hinge issue, Swiss Air Force had to stop QRA for some hours end of January, 2018.
Source: Swiss Radio DRS1

More Infos on this Blog:
https://flytogrimmi.blogspot.ch/2018/02/five-hornets-grounded.html
https://flytogrimmi.blogspot.ch/2018/01/hornets-grounded-due-maintanance.html

Some Hornets from Basevisit yesterday - Meiringen

Datalink-Problems with Swiss Military Radar

A F-5 Tiger is intercepting a NATO C-17 Globemaster III (08-0002)

Training flight activity is reduced due datalink-problems (e.a. Link16). During Software and Hardware upgrade of Switzerlands Military Radarsystem (FLORIDA) the datalink was not working correctly last friday and the error is not solved yet. QRA is not concerned.

Requirements defined for the new combat aircraft and new ground-based air defence system

News about the new fighter aircraft (NKF) and ground-based air defence (BodLuv) today (pdf with full text)

- Evaluation of the new fighter aircraft: Germany (Airbus: Eurofighter), France (Dassault: Rafale), Sweden (Saab: Gripen E), USA (Boeing: F/A-18 Super Hornet; LockheedMartin: F-35A).

Operational requirements for the new combat aircraft (NKF):
a. The fleet as a whole must be capable of:
 - carrying out routine air policing tasks around the clock and enforcing restrictions on the use of Swiss airspace; 
 - in times of heightened tension, responding within minutes to airspace infringements by non-cooperative civilian aircraft, military transport aircraft, drones, and individual combat aircraft in the entirety of Swiss airspace;
 - in case of armed attack, in cooperation with the ground-based air defence systems, denying enemy air superiority for a limited period and simultaneously supporting the armed forces with operational firepower beyond the range of Swiss artillery and with air reconnaissance.

For maintenance (e.g. procurement and storage of spare parts) and training (e.g. use of airspace, air bases, firing ranges, and simulation infrastructure), there should be – to the extent compatible with Swiss neutrality – opportunities for cooperation with the producer states and/or other states that operate the same system.

- All candidates for the new combat aircraft must conduct at least part of their flight and ground testing in Switzerland (main base will be PAYERNE).
- Apart from minimal adjustments necessary (e.g. integration into Swiss command and control systems), there may be no "helvetisation", i.e. the systems (combat aircraft and ground-based air defence) shall be introduced to and operated by Switzerland in the same configuration as by the producer state and released for export.
- Switzerland seeks a one-type fleet for combat aircraft. Once all new combat aircraft have been delivered and introduced into service with the Swiss Air Force, the current F/A-18C/D aircraft will gradually be withdrawn from service. The F-5 Tiger aircraft will be decommissioned before the beginning of deliveries of the new combat aircraft. 


- Evaluation of the new air defence system: France (Eurosam: SAMP/T), Israel (Rafael: David's Sling), USA (Raytheon: Patriot).

Operational requirements for the ground-based air defence system (Bodluv):
a. The long-range ground-based air defence system has to be capable, either independently or in cooperation with combat aircraft, of protecting at least 15,000 km2 and, as a priority, engaging targets in the medium and upper airspace. The system shall be effective to altitudes beyond 12,000 m (vertical) and a distance beyond 50 km (horizontal).
b. The ground-based air defence system's sensors contribute to the recognized air picture.
c. A capability for ballistic missile defence is not a requirement.
d. The following data serve as a theoretical model to calculate the logistics package:
 - continuous operation as long as there is an assurance of a continuous crossborder flow of materiel;
 - when the cross-border flow of materiel is not assured, sustainability has to be at least six months.

Tiger F-5 will leave the Air Force in a hurry with the new combat aircraft arriving

Presentation of the new uniforms and Upgrade Cougar Fleet

Presentation of the new uniforms and helicopter upgrades - as update for the Blog entry 

Armeebotschaft 2018: Upgrade of the Cougar Fleet, only 23 F-5 Tiger rest

Crash of an ADS-95 drone

An Swiss Air Force drone just crashed in the area of Ägerisee in central switzerland, colliding with an mountain.

Swiss Army uses the Israeli-Swiss drone IAI/RUAG ADS-95 for reconaissance missions. The drone costs about 2.5 Mio SFr ($1.9million), 27 systems (including mobile equipment for command and control) where delivered beginning in 1999. An flighthour costs about 7300 SFr and about 40-60 flights are made for Swiss Border Patrol (Grenzschutz) each year.

Absturz einer Drohne der Schweizer Armee

Bern, 20.03.2018 - Im Rahmen einer Trainingsmission des Drohnenkommandos 84 kollidierte heute Nachmittag um 15.15 Uhr eine Drohne des Typs ADS-95 mit einem Berg nördlich des Ägerisees.

Das Absturzgebiet ist bewaldet und unbesiedelt. Eine vorläufige Beweisaufnahme durch einen militärischen Untersuchungsrichter sowie eine Flight Safety Investigation wurden eingeleitet.

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Adresse für Rückfragen

Daniel Reist
Armeesprecher
058 464 48 04