47 million for Swiss production Army gears up for drone warfare - with its own fleet
The Swiss Armed Forces are investing around CHF 47 million in the development of domestic combat drones by 2027. Initial tests are planned in the canton of Graubünden - initially without real weaponry.
06.04.2025, 11:19
06.04.2025, 11:54
SDA
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The Swiss Armed Forces are planning to deploy long-range, armed combat drones from domestic production by 2027.
- The Confederation is providing CHF 47 million for development, with initial tests planned from 2026.
- Initially, drones will only carry out simulated attacks without explosives, for example by dropping them.
The Swiss Armed Forces should be able to deploy domestically produced combat drones over long distances as quickly as possible. This is the declared aim of the drone task force set up by the Federal Armaments Office Armasuisse last summer.
Over the next three years, CHF 47 million is to be spent on this, as reported by the NZZ am Sonntag. The Federal Office of Armaments Armasuisse confirmed this to the Keystone-SDA news agency.
"By 2027, we want to have the necessary knowledge and capabilities to be able to deploy armed drones over longer distances in an extraordinary situation," Thomas Rothacher, Deputy Head of Armaments and Head of the Drone Task Force, told the NZZ am Sonntag.
In a first step, the drones could carry out drops without explosives and simulate the use of weapons in this way.
Tests are expected to begin next year, as confirmed by Armasuisse. The Confederation has considered the firing range in Val Cristallina in the canton of Graubünden as an option for this.