In an interview with the Neue Zürcher Zeitung newspaper, Süssli said he shared concerns of a parliamentary committee over seven delayed orders, which include military drones from Israel.
“These projects all have the purpose of strengthening the army’s defence capability,” said Süssli.
This content was published on
The federal audit office has criticised the Swiss government for poor planning of the procurement of six drones from an Israeli supplier.
This strengthening is important because the army’s equipment is currently “insufficient to credibly demonstrate that we are prepared to defend Switzerland’s sovereignty”.
Despite problems with seven orders, most of the 200 or so projects are going well, he said. The reasons for the problems are manifold: the – sometimes underestimated – complexity of the projects, the high requirements and delivery bottlenecks.
How long it will take to set up war logistics, for example, is still unclear. The new airspace surveillance system must be in place by 2029 at the latest. Until then, the risk is acceptable.
More
More
Swiss defence minister denies ‘chaotic’ handover
This content was published on
Outgoing Swiss defence minister Viola Amherd denies her succession plan is chaotic.
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Aging society
No house generation: the impossibility of buying property in Switzerland
Swiss mountain municipality partly evacuated due to landslide threat
This content was published on
Part of the municipality of Blatten in canton Valais had to be evacuated on Saturday evening for safety reasons after a landslide.
This content was published on
Two people died after an avalanche on the Eiger in canton Bern on Saturday, police said. Five others were airlifted to hospital.
This content was published on
The Austrian countertenor won the 69th Eurovision in Basel on Saturday, edging out Israel. Switzerland’s Zoë Më came tenth.
Swiss minister: situation at German border hasn’t changed
This content was published on
Tighter rules at Germany’s borders have so far not had an impact on Switzerland, Justice Minister Beat Jans said on Saturday.
Basel ‘satisfied’ with Eurovision week as grand final approaches
This content was published on
Ahead of the Eurovision final on Saturday, authorities in Basel say the event has so far gone well, without major incidents.
Swiss Abroad elect representatives online for first time
This content was published on
Swiss citizens in 50 countries have used electronic voting for the first time to elect representatives to the Council of the Swiss Abroad for the 2025-2029 legislative.
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.