Swiss soldiers take part in military exercise in Austria
Dozens of armoured vehicles and tanks will be transported to Austria for the military exercise, as well as several tonnes of equipment.
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Swiss soldiers take part in military exercise in Austria
The Swiss army has organised a military exercise in Austria, involving 1,000 militia soldiers. The aim is to strengthen the country's defence capability.
This content was published on
4 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Français
fr
Exercice majeur inédit des Forces terrestres suisses en Autriche
Original
“This is a special day for our troops on the ground. We haven’t had an exercise like this for 30 years,” declared a Swiss commander.
The Allentsteig parade ground in Austria covers an area of 157 km2, offering a unique field of action and a range of tactical options for ground combat exercises.
Dozens of armoured vehicles and tanks will be transported to Austria, including Leopard battle tanks, Piranhas vehicles and recovery tanks, as well as several tonnes of equipment. In all, 11 rail compositions, extending over almost 4.3 km, are needed for the operation.
More
More
A thousand Swiss soldiers will head to Austria for military exercises
This content was published on
They will join their Austrian and German counterparts at the Allentsteig military training area in April.
The military exercise, dubbed “TRIAS 25”, is expected to provide valuable lessons for the future of the Swiss armed forces, in terms of technology, tactics and logistics. Some 160 German and 120 Austrian soldiers are also taking part.
The exercise took 18 months to prepare. It will last until May 9 with special training starting next Monday.
The soldiers involved will travel to Austria in around 20 coaches. In Austria they will carry out a “24-hour” exercise over five days: the first two days will involve autonomous training, the next three for the actual exercise using simulation systems.
“Threat close to our borders
The exercise scenario describes a situation abroad “in which a threat close to our borders has spread to Switzerland, with sub-warfare and armed conflict”. The aim is to recover infrastructure vital to society, some of which is located in built-up areas and which has been identified and captured by the opposing side.
The exercises involve military deployment, crossing a system of trenches and invading a town. During the simulation, the countries involved do not train against each other but in mixed teams in order to “strengthen cooperation”.
More
More
Seven weaknesses in ‘Fortress Switzerland’
This content was published on
The Swiss Armed Forces are facing considerable challenges. A look at seven problems that the next defence minister will have to address.
Mechanised Battalion 14, subordinate to Mechanised Brigade 11, will lead the operation. It has been reinforced by additional forces and specialists from other areas.
The Swiss army intends to “reorganise the various categories of forces on the ground in collaboration with forces in airspace, electromagnetic space and information space (in the form of an integrated network of sensors, intelligence, command and control and action) in order to prevent an escalation of tensions in any real situation”.
More
More
Swiss ambassador calls for more exercises with NATO
This content was published on
The Swiss ambassador to Belgium and NATO, Jacques Pitteloud, has called for Switzerland to participate in more NATO exercises.
The military exercise in Austria will cost CHF4 million more than a traditional refresher exercise.
Swiss military personnel serving abroad do so on a voluntary basis. Over the next few years, other refresher courses will be organised outside Switzerland from battalion to brigade level.
What is your opinion? Join the debate:
External Content
Translated from French by DeepL/sb
How we work
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. An editor then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
What factors should be taken into account when inheriting Swiss citizenship abroad?
Should there be a limit to the passing on of Swiss citizenship? Or is the current practice too strict and it should still be possible to register after the age of 25?
Handful of Swiss Easter processions take place after inclement weather
This content was published on
Traditional Good Friday processions continue to take place in some municipalities in Switzerland. In Romont, canton Fribourg, for example, the "Pleureuses" marched through the streets.
Great St. Bernard pass between Switzerland and Italy closed due to avalanche
This content was published on
An avalanche forced the closure of the Great St. Bernard pass between Switzerland and Italy on Thursday. The route remains closed to Easter traffic.
‘Pressure will increase on Switzerland to invest more in defence’
This content was published on
Markus Mäder, Switzerland's state secretary for security policy, believes that more cooperation is needed in order to strengthen defence in Europe.
Just one in five Swiss attend a religious service at Easter
This content was published on
Only one in five people in Switzerland attend a religious service during the Easter period or give up meat or alcohol for at least one day of fasting. Around 25% of those polled see Easter primarily as a family holiday, according to the survey.
Major road disruptions continue after heavy snowfall in parts of Switzerland
This content was published on
The snowfall has ended in the southern Swiss canton of Valais, the cantonal emergency services said on Friday. Several roads, however, remain closed.
Swiss businessman gets prison term for asbestos deaths
This content was published on
Stephan Schmidheiny has been sentenced to 9 years and 6 months in prison by the Turin Court of Appeal in a case against the former Eternit executive over deaths linked to asbestos exposure in Italy.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.