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(in German) Bundesamt für Rüstung (in French) Office fédéral de l’armement (in Italian) Ufficio federale dell’armamento | |
Agency overview | |
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Jurisdiction | Federal administration of Switzerland |
Headquarters | Bern |
Minister responsible | |
Parent agency | Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports |
Website | www.ar.admin.ch |
The Federal Office for Defence Procurement (Armasuisse) is a federal agency of the Swiss Confederation. It is the procurement organization for armaments of Switzerland and is affiliated with the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport.
Armasuisse employs around 750 people. The budget was 217 million Swiss francs in 2006. National Armaments Director is Dr. Urs Loher.
The Armasuisse group covers many skills as a provider with a broad field of activity. This ranges from the evaluation, procurement, maintenance and liquidation of materials and systems for the Comprehensive Real Estate Management in VBS to ensuring scientific and technical services. Main clients and partners is the army.
The forerunner of Armasuisse was the War Technical Department, which was subordinated to the army leadership until the so-called Mirage Affair of 1964 took place. In the mid-1960s, it was named as the Armament Services Group (GRD) a separate organizational unit, on a par with (among others) the General Staff Services Group. Since that time, the chief executive of the GRD is called the Chief of Armament and is equivalent in rank to a corps commander. In 1994 it was renamed to the Armament Group (GR). In 2001, the Federal Office of Topography of the Armament Group was formed. Finally, in 2003 the group was divided into RUAG (with all maintenance and production operations of GR) and Armasuisse (procurement and related technical and scientific bodies).
The Armasuisse was divided by mid-2008 in six areas of competence:
The Federal structure was replaced by a competence structure in the fall of 2008, see below management.
CEO Dr. Urs Loher, National Armaments Director
The procurement consists of the areas of competence management and intelligence systems, land systems, aerospace systems, purchasing and cooperation. It is responsible for the active participation in the planning process of the customer, strategic procurement and sales management, the operational implementation of evaluation, acquisition, sale, disposal and the support of the use and maintenance phases. The main partner is the Defence sector, represented in particular by the Planning Staff of the Army and Armed Forces Logistics. The planning staff is responsible for the defense planning, formulated as the customer needs of the army and sets out the requirements. Armasuisse takes in the procurement procedure to implement the requirements of the purchaser from the army and administration.
The competence of science and technology of the VBS offers its technical and scientific achievements in four product categories: technology services for the Army systems (e.g., testing, analysis), risk analysis and safety concepts, quality management, and technology and research management. These include the technology monitoring, the implementation of research projects as well as national and international networking with universities, research, industry and multilateral research and development projects. S & T has a unique underground shooting channel. Services in the areas of ballistics, explosives diagnostics, electromagnetic compatibility, electronics and optronics are also available to private customers.
armasuisse Real Estate, [1] the center of competence for real estate within the DDPS, is responsible for the overall management of 24,000 hectares of property as well as more than 13,000 buildings and facilities for the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport DDPS. Within the wide-ranging portfolio armasuisse Real Estate is responsible for implementing and planning existing and future customer needs, the management of objects in military use, the realisation of new developments and reconstructions, and for the sale and liquidation of infrastructure which is no longer needed.
From the group for Armor Services (GRD) the flight test branch Emmen became the aviation branch of Armasuisse. The Pilatus PC-6 and PC-12 wear an emblem with a fictional experimental aircraft before Mount Pilatus. The Armasuisse regularly conducts test flights for the Swiss Air Force. The test pilots of Armasuisse are military pilots and all aircraft of the Air Force may be used by the Armasuisse. An F/A-18C is normally assigned to the Armasuisse for tasks such as certification of a new version of the AIM-9 missile, but this airplane is also used for normal Air Force duties. In addition, the Armasuisse has 3 permanently assigned aircraft which the Air Force uses when required:
A Pilatus PC-6 Porter with a more modern cockpit than that of the PC-6T of the Air Force. This machine is used as liaison aircraft. The Pilatus PC-12 is used for transport and calibrates the FLORAKO radar system, the Multifunctional Information Distribution System(MIDS) Link 16 and aircraft radio systems. The Diamond DA42 Centaur OPA is flown both manned, or unmanned as a UAV. The Centaur system is produced by Aurora Flight Sciences of the USA, starting with a basic DA42 from Diamond Aircraft. The Centaur system is used to conduct experiments and test flights on integrating UAVs with manned military and civil aircraft operations. In addition, this airplane is also used for liaison flights.
Bernhard Berset is the Chief Testpilot at Armasuisse. Homebase of the Armasuisse aircraft is Emmen Air Base.
The Pilatus PC-7 Turbo Trainer is a low-wing tandem-seat training aircraft, designed and manufactured in Switzerland by Pilatus Aircraft. The aircraft is capable of all basic training functions, including aerobatics, instrument, tactical, and night flying.
The Swiss Air Force is the air component of the Swiss Armed Forces, established on 31 July 1914, three days after the outbreak of World War I, as a part of the army and in October 1936 as an independent service.
The Pilatus PC-6 Porter is a single-engined STOL utility aircraft designed by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. First flown in 1959, the PC-6 was produced at Pilatus Flugzeugwerke in Stans, Switzerland. It has been built in both piston engine- and turboprop-powered versions, and was produced under licence for a time by Fairchild Hiller in the United States. After 604 deliveries in 63 years, Pilatus ended production in 2022.
The Pilatus PC-9 is a single-engine, low-wing tandem-seat turboprop training aircraft manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland. Designed as a more powerful evolution of the Pilatus PC-7, the PC-9's first flight was made in May 1984 after which certification was achieved in September 1985. After this, the first production orders for the type were received from the Royal Saudi Air Force, with deliveries commencing in 1985. Since then, more than 250 airframes have been produced across five different variants, and the type is employed by a number of military and civilian operators around the world, including the Swiss Air Force, Croatian Air Force, Royal Thai Air Force and the Irish Air Corps
The Pilatus PC-21 is a turboprop-powered advanced trainer with a stepped tandem cockpit. It is manufactured by Pilatus Aircraft of Switzerland.
The Diamond DA42 Twin Star is a four seat, twin engine, propeller-driven airplane developed and manufactured in Austria and Canada by Diamond Aircraft Industries, an Austrian subsidiary of China-based Wanfeng Aviation. It was Diamond's first twin engine design, as well as the first new European twin-engine aircraft in its category to be developed in over 25 years. In 2004, the DA42 became the first diesel-powered fixed-wing aircraft to perform a non-stop crossing of the North Atlantic.
RUAG Holding is a Swiss company specialising in aerospace engineering and the defence industry. Its headquarters are located in Bern, while it also has numerous production sites in Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Hungary, Austria and United States, and sales companies in Australia, UK, France, Belgium, Brazil and Malaysia.
Courchevel Altiport is an altiport serving Courchevel, a ski resort in the French Alps. The airfield has a very short runway of only 537 metres (1,762 ft) with a gradient of 18.6%. There is no go-around procedure for landings at Courchevel due to the surrounding mountainous terrain. The airfield primarily sees use by smaller fixed-wing aircraft such as the Cessna 208 Caravan or Pilatus PC-12, as well as helicopters. The runway has no instrument approach procedure or lighting aids, making landing in fog or low clouds unsafe and almost impossible.
The Federal Office of Civil Aviation is the Swiss civil aviation agency, a division of the Federal Department of Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications. Its head office is in Bern, and it has an office at Zurich Airport.
FLORAKO is a Swiss radar system for military and civil aviation. The acronym stands for FLORIDA radar replacement air radar system capable communication system in the initial phase of the project meant the name FLORES RALUS KOMSYS and emerged from the project name of the sub-systems. There are four surface to air missile tubes located on the site.
Dübendorf Military Airport was a military airfield of the Swiss Air Force northeast of Dübendorf in Switzerland, located east of Zürich.
Militärflugplatz Emmen is a military airfield of the Swiss Air Force north of Emmen, Switzerland, located northwest of Lucerne.
In Switzerland, to identify individual aircraft, all military aircraft are allocated and display a serial number.
The Lufttransport Staffel 7 is a militia transport squadron of the Swiss Air Force. The LT St 7 belongs to the Flugplatzkommando 7. It is stationed on the Militärflugplatz Emmen. As coat of arms, the Lufttransport Staffel 7 wears a dark blue side view of a Pilatus PC-6 next to the two parachute jumpers in the free fall in front of the yellow letter LT and the word Staffel and two lines forming a 7 with blue background and a yellow circle. There is also a camouflage version, which has a dark green background, the LT Letters, the word Staffel and the double 7 are white, the side contour of the PC-6 is also by white. Previously the LT Staffel7 had a coat of arms showing a Globi on a red / white parachute against a light blue background and the black inscription: Lufttransport 7 Staffel / Kompanie.
The Lufttransportdienst des Bundes (LTDB) ,operates the aircraft and helicopters of the Swiss government. The LTDB is located at Bern Airport. Since 2005, the LTDB has been part of the Swiss Air Force. Prior to that, she was assigned to the Federal Office of Civil Aviation.
Zielflugstaffel 12, former known as Fliegerstaffel 12 of the Swiss Air Force is a militia squadron equipped with Northrop F-5E and Pilatus PC-9 and part of the Flugplatzkommando 7. The home base of the unit is Militärflugplatz Emmen. As coat of arms, the Zielflugstaffel carries a badge with a yellow and black target pattern, a bullseye and the writing "Zfl St 12".
The Fliegerstaffel 24 fighter squadron 24 of the Swiss Air Force was a former standalone squadron, which is now the ECM (German:EKF) part of the Zielflugstaffel 12. It is a militia squadron and belongs to the airfield command 7. Its home base is the Militärflugplatz Emmen. The Fliegerstaffel 24 carries as coat of arms an eagle in front of a light blue background, holding a lightning bolt in the right claw, in the background is a red-orange number 24 and above the coat of arms is a red-orange area with the black writing "Fliegerstaffel".
The Drohnesstaffel 7 is a Militia squadron, stationed on the Militärflugplatz Emmen and is under the drone command 84. Drohnesstaffel 7 has as Coat of arms a round badge that shows the head of an owl against a dark blue background and the yellow inscription "Dro Staffel 7". It is the only UAV squadron of the Swiss Air Force. The owl symbolizes the good sight of the UAV sensors by day and night.
This article represents the structure of the Swiss Armed Forces as of 1 January 2018: