Army plans shopping list

Black Hornet® 4 nanodrone - the type the army wants

The army is going on a shopping spree.

It will have CHF 1.7bn to spend – although that figure still needs parliamentary approval.

But it knows what it wants. 

It plans to spend over 800 million on 32 howitzers with steerable shells – each shell will cost CHF 100,000.

Nanodrones, which will be carried by a mother drone to be used on the battlefield. 

Passive radars which make them undetectable by an enemy. 

And a new anti-cyber warfare unit – at a cost of CHF 250m.

The people in charge will be changing very soon. 

The current head of the army, Thomas Süssli, is due to retire. His replacement will be chosen by the new federal councillor, Martin Pfister, who takes over from Viola Amherd today. 

More from Bitesize News

  • Govt looks to cut forest protection

    The Federal Council is scrapping the CHF 25 million a year that Parliament voted to help forests adapt to climate change, despite two clear parliamentary decisions.

  • Federal Councillors heckled by protestors

    Federal Councilors were out across the country marking National Day on Saturday - but not without controversy.

  • Further pressure on Swiss football head

    Pressure is mounting on Zurich-based FIFA and its Italo-Swiss president Gianni Infantino after North America's football body demanded a complete overhaul of his presidency.

  • Politicians carry stereotypes

    Elected politicians in Switzerland carry more gender stereotypes than the voters they represent, a new University of Geneva and University of Lausanne study finds.

  • Illegal rave hits pastures

    A thousand young people left a mountain pasture in the Vaud Jura unsuitable for grazing after an illegal rave.

  • More Swiss firefighters head to France

    A second team of 33 firefighters from French speaking Switzerland will travel to south-western France this weekend to relieve colleagues battling the wildfires.

Download our app

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play