Berne, 02.09.2014 - admin.ch

Le Commandant de corps Aldo C. Schellenberg, Commandant des Forces aériennes prépare ses troupes aux développements des années à venir. Il veut renforcer le management de projets d’achat d’avions et de systèmes de défense contre avions.

La décision démocratique contre l’acquisition du Saab Gripen du 18 mai est naturellement respectée par l’Armée suisse, dit Schellenberg durant son rapport d’information à Payerne VD, qui a eu lieu dans le cadre de l’air show AIR14 et du 100ème anniversaire des Forces aériennes. Les 54 F-5 Tiger des Forces aériennes seront mis hors service d’ici 2016, tel que communiqué lors de la votation sur le Gripen par le Conseil fédéral.
« S’en écarter pourrait compromettre une future acquisition d’avion de combat », dit Schellenberg. Une revalorisation de la flotte de Tiger ou de parties de celle-ci n’est pas possible pour des raisons opérationnelles et financières. Les F-5 ne se laisseraient pas adapter aux nécessités modernes que ce soit pour le radar ou l’armement.
Le chef du DDPS, le Conseiller fédéral Ueli Maurer, planifie avec le budget actuel une armée de 100'000 hommes, comme il l’a annoncé durant son message d’accueil au rapport d’information. Il veut une armée qui corresponde aux idéaux d’un «équilibre politique». Maurer renonce à une armée trop grande, orientée à des besoins antérieurs. Il lutte de même contre un rétrécissement additionnel considérable des troupes.

Service prolongé du F/A-18 examiné

Les Forces aériennes examinent suite au «non» du peuple au Gripen une prolongation de vie modérée pour les 32 F/A-18 jusqu’à 2025, explique le Commandant de corps Schellenberg. Il faut tout de même prévoir une relève à temps : l’argument principal reste la capacité à durer en temps de crise. Le service de police aérienne ne doit pas être la seule raison pour un nouvel avion de combat multi-rôle.
Schellenberg a également insisté sur un concept pour une prompte acquisition de nouveaux systèmes de défense contre avions. Il y a un besoin pour une défense aérienne intégrée, avec des avions de combats et des systèmes de défense contre avions basés au sol.
En situation normale, les Forces aériennes sécuriseront, dès 2020, l’espace aérien sur un cycle de 24 heures par jour et ce durant toute l’année, avec des moyens d’intervention. Les Forces aériennes seront engagées dans le cadre de situations exceptionnelles, comme en cas de crise ou dans le cadre d’un soutien aux autorités civiles. De plus, les Forces aériennes devraient acquérir la possibilité de créer une souveraineté aérienne réduite, de manière à pouvoir protéger nos propres troupes. Le transport aérien et l’acquisition de renseignements pour la conduite politique et militaire continueront à faire partie des missions des Forces aériennes.

AIR14 comme signal de départ

Il sera néanmoins nécessaire de renforcer le management de projet, ce qui inclut également la communication : « Si la population comprend précisément ce que nous faisons, alors elle nous soutiendra. Nous avons raté cela le 18 mai. Cela ne doit pas nous arriver une seconde fois ».
Le succès d’AIR14 à Payerne comme évènement de toute l’Armée doit être compris comme un signal de départ pour les prochaines votations. Schellenberg se montre optimiste: « Les Forces aériennes continuent leur ascension».

5 Jun 2014 By Craig Hoyle - FG

Switzerland’s Armasuisse procurement agency has selected Elbit Systems’ Hermes 900 to meet the nation’s future unmanned air system requirement. The design had been in competition with Israel Aerospace Industries’ Super Heron TP to replace Ruag Ranger unmanned air vehicles currently in service with the Swiss armed forces.

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17 Mar 2014 By: Craig Hoyle - FG

London- Operators of Boeing’s legacy F/A-18 could benefit from a collaboration agreement between two European firms currently responsible for providing national support for the type.

Signed by Finland’s Patria ­Aviation and Switzerland’s Ruag Aviation, the pact will “study the impacts of the worldwide F/A-18 ‘sundown’ programmes”, the companies say.

Combined, their home air ­forces operate 94 of the aircraft – approximately 25% of the global fleet of A- to D-model Hornets, excluding US Navy and Marine Corps examples – and plan to keep them operational until 2030 to 2035.

“It’s definitely the right point in time to bring the industries together,” says Daniel Brunner, Ruag Aviation’s general manager for jets and missiles.

“This agreement allows Patria and Ruag to start working on similar issues. Instead of each nation trying to solve a problem individually, we can co-operate and share,” he says.

Reaching the signature phase took around two years, following a suggestion by the nations’ ­defence ministries.

“The co-operation between ­Patria and Ruag casts a strong foundation to secure the sustainment of the ageing F/A-18 fleets, and will utilise both companies’ resources to the maximum ­benefit of our customers,” says Lassi Matikainen, president of Patria Aviation.

Practical near-term examples include the exchange of personnel, which Brunner says will enable the companies to respond to periods of over- or under-capacity, and sharing lessons learned through their provision of technical and logistics support. “We have identified a number of opportunities,” he adds.

The non-exclusive agreement also defines the parties’ roles and responsibilities with regard to pursuing additional business ­opportunities.

“It would be easy to co-operate with other air forces,” says Brunner, who notes that the initiative is being advanced following intensive discussions between the partners and Boeing. “We need to, and we want to, work with the OEM [original equipment manufacturer],” he stresses.

Flightglobal’s MiliCAS database records 381 A- to D-model F-18s as being in operation with the air forces of Australia, Canada, Finland, Kuwait, Malaysia, Spain and Switzerland. This total includes 61 F-18C/Ds flown by the Finnish air force and 32 of the same mark operated by its Swiss counterpart.

“All could benefit” from the currently bilateral effort to reduce through-life support costs on the type, says Brunner.

A lineup of artillery - defenceWeb

02 December 2013 by Oscar Nkala - defenceWeb

Russian-Israeli billionaire businessman Arkady Gaydamak who is wanted in France to serve a six-year sentence for his role in the Angolagate arms sale scandal, has been detained in the Swiss capital Zurich.

Gaydamak has since filed an application for bail but the French government has reportedly made contact with Switzerland seeking his immediate extradition so that he can serve his pending jail term in France.

Angolagate, also known as the Mitterrand-Pasqua affair, involved the illegal shipment of arms from Europe worth $790 million to Angola in the 1990s. Through the deals, military equipment which included warships, helicopters, tanks, artillery shells and landmines were sold to the Angolan Armed Forces (FAA) despite an international arms embargo which was in place because the force was at war with Jonas Savimbi's National Union for the Total Independence of Angola (UNITA) rebel movement.

Luxembourg news site PaperJam reported that Swiss police acting on an arrest warrant issued in Luxembourg arrested Gaydamak in Zurich while he was meeting his lawyers to discuss another probe in connection with the controversial acquisition of a $50 million phosphate factory in Kazakhstan by a shell company suspected to have been fronting for him.

However, AFP reported that Gaydamak’s arrest was ordered because he had not paid 400 000 euros to an Israeli football club he once owned.

In October 2009, a French magistrate court tried Gaydamak in absentia and sentenced him to six years in prison for illegal arms sales, abuse of public assets, bribery, fraud, tax evasion and money laundering in connection with the Angolan arms. The court found that together with French businessman Pierre Falcone, Gaydamak acted as a conduit for the payment of 'lobbying fees', to former French interior minister Charles Pasqua by Angolan officials.

The court found that sales of Soviet made weaponry, including 420 tanks, 150,000 shells, 170,000 anti-personnel mines, 12 helicopters and six warships, began when Mitterrand's father Francois was in office in 1993 and continued until 1998.

In April 2011 a French appeals court reduced Gaydamak’s jail term to three years, for money laundering and tax fraud.

Pasqua is alleged to have used his influence to help Angola secure the arms despite official disapproval of the deal by the French government and the UN arms embargo on Angola at the time. A warrant for his arrest was issued immediately afterwards and Gaydamak has been on the run since then. Following a successful appeal in April 2011, Gaydamak's sentence was reduced to three years.

Angolagate involved 36 politically connected French citizens who included Jean-Christophe Mitterrand, the son of former president Francois Mitterrand. However, top Angolan government officials and members of the political-business elite linked to President Dos Santos who were implicated in the case by French prosecutors have not been arrested to date.

Aug 28, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: The Local; published Aug 28, 2013)

Czechs and Swiss Boost Hope for Swedish Gripen

The interim Czech government said it plans to renew its lease of JAS Gripen fighter jets, while a parliamentary committee in Switzerland said yes to a proposed 23 billion kronor ($3.5 billion) purchase of the Swedish-made warplanes.

Following two days of discussions of the deal that would see the Swiss military purchase 22 JAS Gripen jets, the security and defence committee of the Swiss parliament voted 14-9 in favour of the deal. The deal now moves for a vote in front of the full parliament on September 11th.

The committee had previously given the deal a thumbs up in the spring, but some politicians expressed concerns, prompting the government to review and clarify the deal.

As the new Gripen E is still in development, there remains uncertainty as to whether Saab and Sweden can deliver what they've promised and that Switzerland may end up with what some called an "Ikea-plane" instead of a "Super-JAS".

Meanwhile, outgoing Czech prime minister Jiri Rusnok said this week that the government expects to renew its lease on 14 Swedish fighter jets beyond 2015.

"The negotiations are at an advanced stage. The ball is actually in our court. The Swedes are awaiting our final answer to their recent offer," he told reporters on Monday.

The new contract with Stockholm over the supersonic JAS-39 Gripen combat jets could be inked at the end of the year or in early 2014 by the new government, he added. Snap elections are scheduled for late October.

The Czech military paid nearly $1 billion to lease the Gripens for a decade starting 2005. The aircraft include 12 one-seater JAS-39 Cs and two two-seater training JAS-39 Ds.

In July of last year, former Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas said Stockholm was being "uncooperative" regarding the renewal. According to press reports, the Swedes had been refusing to lower the lease price.

Necas stepped down in June amid a spy and bribery scandal. The president appointed a new technocratic government led by Rusnok, but that cabinet lost a confidence vote this month.

"The next government will make the final decision on the Gripens, but this (Rusnok) cabinet will do its utmost to facilitate it," Defence Minister Vlastimil Picek said Monday. He added that the new contract will be a better deal for the Czech Republic and valid for "a period longer than ten years".

29 May 2013 By Craig Hoyle - FG

London - Saudi Arabia's first PC-21 trainer has emerged in its future service livery at Pilatus's Stans manufacturing facility in Switzerland.

Drawn from a 55-unit order signed in May 2012, Royal Saudi Air Force aircraft 901 has made its first ground engine runs, ahead of a flight debut that is likely to be performed within the next couple of months. Deliveries to the service will start during 2014, as part of a deal including 22 BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainers.

Pilatus's current order book for the PC-21 includes 24 examples to be manufactured for Qatar. The type is already in operational service with the air forces of Singapore, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates.