Financial audit harshly criticises Swiss drone procurement project

Financial audit harshly criticizes drone procurement project Keystone-SDA

The federal audit office has identified major problems in the financing and planning of a major drone procurement project by the Swiss government.

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Switzerland is currently procuring an unmanned and unarmed drone reconnaissance system. The purchase was approved by parliament in 2015 and included six Hermes 900 HFE UAVs from Israeli manufacturer Elbit for CHF250 million ($275 million).

The project was scheduled for completion in 2019, but has since been postponed to 2026.

However, according to the report published by the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) on Wednesday, the system delivered on that date will still not meet all requirements. The drones are not expected to be fully operational until 2029 at the earliest.

“The project is in crisis,” wrote the SFAO. The SFAO criticises overly ambitious targets and inadequate planning and control. There was little financial leeway and additional costs were to be feared. The audit office said that urgent action needed to be taken.

For the Federal Armaments Office (Armasuisse), abandoning the project is not an option. Too much money has already been spent and the army needs the drones.

Translated from German by DeepL/jdp

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