Media report: Swiss army to face big financial issues in coming years

Swiss jets showing off at Axalp, canton Bern, in 2022. The air show has been cancelled this year. Anthony Anex

The forces are reportedly set to hit a funding shortfall of some CHF1 billion ($1.16 billion) by the end of 2025, after they deviated from their own stated financial plans, Swiss public television, SRF, has revealed.

The defence ministry did not initially comment on the SRF report when contacted by the Keystone-SDA news agency on Wednesday evening.

According to SRF, the army made detailed plans eight years ago about how it would finance the purchase of new fighter jets and the reinforcement of its air defence systems. For several years, the plan was to either order no defence equipment at all or only a few items – in order to free up funds. However, the army has since deviated from these goals, SRF claims. From 2020 onwards, government and parliament authorised significantly more extensive purchases than planned in 2018.

Higher operating costs for the army and inflation are also considered to be among the causes of the imminent shortfall, SRF reported, citing an internal army document.

+ The Swiss army: your questions answered

Major events scrapped

The army recently announced the cancellation of various planned events due to the tight budgetary situation. At the end of August, the air force had planned to hold a large public air show at Emmen military airfield, while a major ground troops event was scheduled for 2025 in Bière in canton Vaud.

Army chief Thomas Süssli said on SRF’s “Tagesschau” programme last Saturday that it was not foreseeable that the financial situation would worsen to such an extent. However, operating costs for various systems, starting with the aircraft and including the ground forces, had risen massively, he said.

Army bosses therefore decided a few days earlier to cancel the two events. Although parliament had held out the prospect of an increase in the army’s budget, such a boost would only come from 2028 onwards, said Süssli.

An army spokesperson told the Keystone-SDA news agency at the time that it was not possible to quantify how much would be saved by cancelling the events.

+ Read more about the cancelled army events

Translated from German by DeepL/dos

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