Post by Vincent Sabot

Today I attended the Industry Day of Bundesamt für Rüstung armasuisse – the Swiss Agency for Armament. It was an insightful day with three key perspectives on the challenges and opportunities for the defense industry in Switzerland: 🔹 Urs Loher, General Director of Bundesamt für Rüstung armasuisse, emphasized the extremely long supply chain lead times (often more than 4 years) and contrasted them with the rapid technology turnover observed on the battlefield in Ukraine — where drone innovation cycles are down to 10 days and more than 300,000 drones are produced every month. 🔹 KKdt Thomas Suessli, Chief of the Swiss Armed Forces Schweizer Armee, underlined the need for adaptive development and international cooperation within Switzerland’s doctrine of armed neutrality. He delivered a strong statement that within the defense community, there is growing conviction that Russian aggression toward the EU or NATO is expected within 4–5 years — the question being not if, but when and how. 🔹 Stefan Brupbacher, Director of Swissmem (representing Switzerland’s technology industry – CHF 87B turnover, 330,000 jobs), spoke about the initiative to adapt Swiss export laws for defense goods to enable closer cooperation with NATO and EU countries, while maintaining Swiss neutrality. This proposal will soon reach Parliament. He insisted that export opportunities for the swiss defense industries are crucial for achieving critical mass, driving innovation, and thus sustaining sovereign capabilities. In a country where neutrality and pacifism are deeply rooted, rearmament, innovation, and defense industrial sovereignty are complex but essential discussions. All speakers agreed: time is of the essence — as threats are confirmed and growing across all domains: high intensity land warfare, airspace with drones and missiles, cyberspace and hybrid Operations.