. It is equipped with mostly modern, sophisticated, and well-maintained weapons systems and equipment.
, Swiss voters approved the military reform project "Army XXI" to drastically reduce the size of the Swiss Army. Starting in January 2004, the 524,000-strong militia was pared down to 220,000 conscripts, including 80,000 reservists. The defence budget of SFr 4.3 billion ($3.1 billion) was trimmed by SFr 300 million and some 2,000 jobs are expected to be shed between 2004 and 2011.
The armed forces consist of a small nucleus of about 3,600 professional staff, half of whom are either instructors or staff officers, with the rest being conscripts or volunteers. All able-bodied Swiss males aged between 19 and 31 must serve, and although entry to recruit school may be delayed due to senior secondary school, it is no longer possible to postpone it for university studies. About one third is excluded for various reasons, and these either serve in
.
Recruits have the right to be instructed in their native language; however, because of the small number of Romansch-speaking recruits, they are instructed in German.
For women, military service is voluntary, and they can join all services, including combat units. About 2,000 women already serve in the army but, until the "Armee XXI" reform, were not allowed to use weapons for purposes other than self-defence. Since the reform, women can take on any position within the armed forces.
Due to the small size of the Swiss Air Force, competition to become an aircraft pilot is extremely high. Candidate pilots and parachutists have to start training in their own free time from the age of 16, well before recruitment. However, if candidates appear at recruitment with a certificate showing completion of preliminary training, they are practically guaranteed that duty, provided they pass the following selection during service. Aspiring pilots must however first complete basic training in a regular unit and complete officer school before entering into a unit of candidate pilots.
The army has established a new category of soldiers, called "single-term conscripts," who volunteer to serve a single term of 300 days of active duty. The total number of single-term conscripts cannot exceed 15% of a year's draft, and these volunteers can only serve in certain branches of the military. The rest continue to follow the traditional Swiss model of serving from 18 to 21 weeks at first and then doing three weeks (four for officers) per year until they serve the required number of days or reach the age of 42.
Soldiers can be required to advance in rank, usually either to Sergeant or Lieutenant. This is often required of Italian-speaking soldiers, because they make up a minority in the population and the armed forces, and there is a need for Italian-speaking officers. A higher rank typically entails a longer service time, which results in some wishing to avoid promotion.
With the new reform, if a soldier is promoted to sergeant, he can no longer advance to lieutenant and onwards, as they now follow two separate branches of development. However, many soldiers still prefer this, not simply because of a shorter service time (compared to lieutenants) but also because they have a more active, up-close role with the other troops as regular soldiers, instead of managing from a distance as officers.
need to have completed their basic military service in Switzerland, and are also required to be Catholic.
, but it does maintain a fleet of military patrol boats, numbering 10 in 2006. They patrol the
. These boats are sometimes humorously referred to as the "Swiss Navy".
heading the "Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports", (formerly "Federal Military Department"):
Main article: Swiss army ranks Ranks In peacetime, the armed forces are led by the Chief of the Armed Forces (
Chef der Armee), who reports to the head of the Department of Defence and to the
Federal Council as a whole. The current Chief of the Armed Forces is
Korpskommandant Christophe Keckeis.
In times of crisis or war, the
Federal Assembly elects a
General (
OF-9) as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (
Oberbefehlshaber der Armee). There have been four Generals in Swiss history:
Officers which would have the title of general in other armies do not bear the title general (OF-8:
Commandant de corps, OF-7
Divisionnaire and OF-6
Brigadier), as this title is strictly a wartime designation. The distinctive feature of their rank insignia are traditionally stylized
edelweiss (
image). However, when Swiss Officers are involved in peacekeeping missions abroad, they often receive temporary ranks that do not exist in the Swiss Army, to put them on an equal footing with foreign officers. For example, the head of the Swiss delegation at the NNSC in
Korea (see below) had a rank of
major general.
Henri Dufour (1847-1848,
Sonderbundskrieg; and 1856-57, Neuchâtel Crisis)
Hans Herzog (1871-1872,
Franco-Prussian War)
Ulrich Wille (1914-1918,
WW I)
Henri Guisan (1939-1945,
WW II)
High Command Structure The Swiss military department maintains the
Onyx intelligence gathering system, similar in concept to the
UKUSA's
ECHELON system, but at a much smaller scale.
The Onyx system was launched in 2000 in order to monitor both civil and military communications, such as
telephone,
fax or
Internet traffic, carried by
satellite. It was completed in late 2005 and currently consists in three interception sites, all based in Switzerland. In a way similar to ECHELON, Onyx uses lists of keywords to filter the intercepted content for information of interest.
On
8 January 2006, the Swiss newspaper
Sonntagsblick (Sunday edition of the
Blick newspaper) published a secret report produced by the Swiss government using data intercepted by Onyx. The report described a
fax sent by the
Egyptian department of Foreign Affairs to the Egyptian
Embassy in
London, and described the existence of secret detention facilities (
black sites) run by the
CIA in
Central and
Eastern Europe. The Swiss government did not officially confirm the existence of the report, but started a judiciary procedure for leakage of secret documents against the newspaper on
9 January 2006.
Intelligence community Switzerland being a
neutral country, its army does not take part in armed conflicts in other countries. However, over the years, the Swiss army has been part of several peacekeeping missions around the world.
Peacekeeping missions From 1996 to 2001, The Swiss Army was present in Bosnia and Herzegovina with headquarters in Sarajevo. Its mission, part of the Swiss Peacekeeping Missions, was to provide logistic and medical support to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe,
OSCE as well as protection duties and humanitarian demining. The mission was named SHQSU standing for Swiss Headquarters Support Unit to BiH. It was composed of 50 to 55 elite Swiss soldiers under contract for 6 to 12 months. None of the active soldiers were armed during the duration of the mission. The Swiss soldiers were recognized among the other armies present on the field by their distinctive yellow beret. The SHQSU is not the same as the more publicized SWISSCOY, which is the Swiss Army Mission to Kosovo.
Mission in Korea (NNSC) There is an organised movement in Switzerland (
Group for a Switzerland without an Army) aiming at the abolition of the military. The Swiss have voted twice on such a referendum. The first time was in 1989, when 64.4% of the voters voted in favour of maintaining the Swiss Army. The second vote was in 1999, with 76.8% in favour.
In 1992, after the Swiss government decided to buy
FA-18 jets, they collected about half a million signatures within one month for a referendum. The population decided to buy the jets, with 57.1% voting to approve the project.
The organisation is still active in antimilitaristic work and also in the anti-war movement.
Generally, the army being criticized today by left-wing politicians who argue it is trying to save its existence by performing non-military jobs like protecting embassies or providing security services to the
World Economic Forum (WEF) in
Davos. This practice is seen to be justified by conservatives when regarding the lack of police forces (Switzerland leases police troops from Germany for the duration of the WEF).
Other criticism targets the planned acquisition of more fighter-jets, in sight of the coming retirement of
F-5 Tiger IIs in 2011, and a
CASA CN-235 transport aircraft, for example for evacuation purposes.
Criticism All able-bodied male Swiss citizens are
conscripted to the armed forces. For women the service is voluntary. Since 1996, Swiss citizens can apply for
civilian service instead. Entry to the civilian service is based on moral grounds and subject to a successful application.
A significant number of young men choose to avoid military service by visiting a doctor who attests to their incapacity to do military service on medical grounds, or try to fake it during recruitment through psychological and physical tests that are taken during recruitment. This can be on either physical or mental grounds. Those who are found unable to serve the military pay an additional 2%
income tax, and must in any case serve in Civil Protection (Police, Fire Department etc.), though the duration of this is much shorter. As of January 2004, the income tax was raised to 3% by the Federal Council. Also, those who have conscience issues against war (for example, people who experienced violence at a young age, or have been in a warzone) can serve in Civil Service, where they do various kinds of social services, such as reconstructing cultural sites, helping the elderly and so on and so forth. However, a citizen may only request enrollment in Civil Service if they are psychologically and physically eligible for military service, but they have to put in one and a half times more time than they would as soldiers.
Conscription occurs at the age of 19 years. At the age of 20, about half the service is done during an initial training period of 21 or 18 weeks, depending on the service branch, with the exception of the Grenadiers, an elite infantry unit with a 25-week boot camp. Initial training (following regular boot camp) for members of the AAD, Switzerland's new
SAS-type Special Forces unit, which is an all-volunteer professional unit with a rigorous selection process, is 18 months. Thereafter, men remain in the military until the age of 30 (or longer, if the military service is not yet completed), performing three weeks of training every year. However, the service period of non-commissioned officers and officers is significantly longer. Due to a new military reform enacted in 2005, it is no longer possible to postpone the initial training to finish
university, although it is possible to postpone in order to finish highschool or equivalent internships (for example for an aspiring carpenter who might only finish training at 19 or 20). For this reason many people try to get out of military service, so they can attend university immediately after finishing highschool. It is possible to split the time in basic training (as recruit) and service (as soldier) which would allow one to start university immediately, the second half must be served at the earliest possible opportunity, usually Christmas break, a time which is usually used to study for exams. Hence, this practice is very hard on the student, and generally not recommended. The successive training weeks can also be postponed, but there is limited scope. In general, men interrupt their work during these weeks. During military service, the employee is paid a compensation of 80% of his regular salary by the state. Most employers, however, continue to pay the full salary during military service. In this case, the compensation is paid to the employer. Employers cannot fire a person in service by law.
To reduce training and logistics costs, the Swiss military standardises on a few carefully selected types of
weapons. For example, Switzerland uses only one rifle model (except for select forces, such as military police, grenadiers etc., who are also trained in the use of
Heckler & Koch MP5s, shotguns etc.), the
FASS 90, and three types of ground-based
anti-aircraft systems, including a Swiss-built and improved version of the
Stinger (
Swiss army knives are also issued, although they are neither red nor considered weapons). In 1993, the Swiss government ordered 34
FA-18 fighter jets from the
United States of America, which were subsequently re-built in Switzerland, notably for the electronics. Also, the software supporting the pilot was improved and then sold to the
United States of America. Switzerland traditionally depends on itself for supplies and parts, often using non-standard equipment, although this has changed somewhat.
Famously, members of the armed forces keep their rifles and uniforms in their homes for immediate mobilisation, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition in a sealed tin, to be used for self defence while traveling to the mobilisation points. Additional ammunition is kept at military bases where the militia are supposed to report. Swiss
military doctrines are arranged in ways that make this organisation very effective and rapid.
Switzerland claims to be able to mobilise the entire population for warfare within 12 hours. In contrast, it can take several weeks to several months for a militarily-active country such as the United States to mobilise its military force.
Every year, those still in Reserve have to present themselves with their rifles at a shooting stand, and fire a certain number of rounds, which are issued.
Discussion Swiss building codes require
radiation and blast shelters to protect against bombing. There is a bed for every Swiss person in one of the many shelters. There are also hospitals and command centres in such shelters, aimed at keeping the country running in case of emergencies. Every family has to pay a small tax to support these shelters, or alternatively own a personal shelter in their place of residence.
Moreover, tunnels and key bridges are built with
tank traps. Tunnels are also primed with
demolition charges to be used against invading forces. Permanent fortifications are established in the
Alps, as bases from which to retake the fertile valleys after a potential invasion. They include underground air bases which are adjacent to normal runways; the aircraft, crew and supporting material are housed in the caverns. The concept of underground fortifications in the Alps stems from the so-called "
Reduit" concept of the World War II. It was intended that if the
Axis Powers were to invade Switzerland, they would have to do so at a huge price. The army would barricade itself in the mountains within the fortresses, which would be very difficult to take. However, a significant part of these fortifications have been dismantled between the 80's and during the "Army 95" reformation. The most important fortifications are located at
Saint-Maurice,
Gotthard Pass area and
Sargans. The fortification on the left side of the
Rhône at Saint-Maurice is no longer used by the army since the beginning of the 90's. The right side (Savatan) is nonetheless still in use.
The Swiss government thought that the aim of an invasion of Switzerland would be to control the economically important transport routes through the Swiss Alps, namely the
Gotthard, the
Simplon and
Great St. Bernard passes, because Switzerland does not possess any significant natural resources. Those who actually served in the Swiss Army during the war never criticised this concept - even if it openly meant that the enemy could take the civilian population in the plains hostage.
Shelters and fortifications In contrast to most other comparable Armies, officer candidates are not necessarily career regulars. Instead, until 2004 officers were traditionally selected from the pool of NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and then underwent OCS (officer candidate school, which was and is open to both militia - i.e. officers who also have a civilian job - and future professional officers), five months of intensive training that emphasised small-unit and platoon-sized unit tactics. This system ensured that all officers knew the trade skills of a non-commissioned soldier and mitigated resentment towards officers from NCOs.
This was abolished with the Army XXI reform as a concession to the Swiss economy which was increasingly unhappy about having its future leaders away for two years at a time (the time it took to become an officer until 2004). In the new system, officers-to-be are selected early based on criteria such as leadership potential and education and are sent directly to officer training. This system, which is similar to that employed in most countries of the world, reduces the time needed to train an officer but means that new entries are sometimes seen to lack credibility in the eyes of traditionalists. The new system is under review but remains in force.
To assure a generally high level of military leadership above the rank of first lieutenant, the Army maintains the HKA (
Hoehere Kaderschule der Armee) which is responsible for an array of professionally run schools such as BUSA (
Berufsunteroffiziersschule der Armee) which runs a program for professional non-commissioned officers, the MILAK (
Militaerakademie) which runs a bachelor degree program for professional officers, programs for company and battalion commanders, a number of staff courses, and the General Staff and Command College (Gst S), an elite training program whose graduates leave their former branches and are inducted into the so-called General Staff Corps.
Future general staff officers are selected from the best company commanders and undergo battalion commander training before starting general staff training. Only 30 new trainees are selected per year and even fewer complete the demanding training. Being a general staff officer is a prerequisite for a range of important jobs on Brigade and higher level, such as G2 (chief of intelligence) or G3 (chief of operations).
The ratio of professional versus militia officers is about 1:1. As a rule of thumb, a significant number of senior civil servants and business leaders in Switzerland are general staff officers, and aspiring managers used to be required to become officers by their company, which would give them personnel management skills amongst other things.
Leadership 
Weapon systems SIG 550 /
Sturmgewehr 90 assault rifle
SIG 510 /
Sturmgewehr 57 battle rifle (previous rifle, rare but still in service)
SIG P220 semi-automatic pistol
MG3 machine gun
FN Minimi light-machine gun
HG 85 handgrenade
Gewehraufsatz 97 40mm grenade launcher
Remington 870 multipurpose shotgun 91 (known as
Mehrzweckgewehr 91)
Panzerfaust 3 anti-tank rocket
M47 Dragon anti-tank guided rocket
FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired anti-air missile
12.7mm Heavy Sniper Rifle (Gew06)
MG 710 machine gun / MG55 (still stocked, but neither trained on nor used in rep courses actualy the same as MG3)
Small arms Pz87 LEO WE / variant of
Leopard 2 main battle tank
SPz2000 /
CV9030 infantry fighting vehicle
PzHbz88/95 KAWEST / variant of
M109 howitzer self-propelled armoured artillery
RadSPz Piranha /
Mowag Piranha armoured troop transport
MOWAG Eagle armoured patrol vehicle
Aircraft Swiss Civilian Service Gun politics in Switzerland Swiss Army knife 2007 invasion of Liechtenstein IMESS, the
Swiss Future Soldier program.
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