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
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
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?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Pope was a person full of respect: Swiss president
This content was published on
Swiss president Karin Keller-Sutter, who is attending the funeral of Pope Francis, says the pontiff was always full of respect.
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
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.