After numerous delays and mishaps, the Swiss defence ministry is considering cancelling the drone procurement project for the first time, according to National Armaments Director Urs Loher.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
VBS erwägt Abbruch des Drohnen-Beschaffungsprojekts
Original
Although he had long been of the opinion that cancellation was out of the question, they had now “reached a point where the question arises as to whether the famous last straw has broken the camel’s back,” Loher told Swiss public radio, SRF, on Friday.
This last straw refers to the automatic landing system that was due to be delivered in September. The Israeli company Elbit was unable to meet the deadline, which prompted the defence ministry to extend the deadline to January and then September 30. But “these two milestones were not met either”, said Loher.
If the procurement project is cancelled, he personally assumes that Elbit will “certainly come with counterclaims”. There would then be a long legal dispute, the outcome of which would be uncertain.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then 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.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Train vs plane: would you take a direct train between London and Geneva?
Eurostar is planning to run direct trains from Britain to Germany and Switzerland from the early 2030s. Would you favour the train over the plane? If not, why not?
Prevention and tech could help save billions on Swiss healthcare costs, says Deloitte
This content was published on
By focusing on prevention and technology, it would be possible to reduce Switzerland's healthcare bill by CHF30 billion a year by 2040, according to Deloitte Switzerland.
Environment director warns of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland
This content was published on
The director of the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN) has warned of increasing climate-related risks in Switzerland in an interview with SonntagsBlick on Sunday.
Gotthard traffic queue hits 11km at start of holiday season
This content was published on
The start of the summer holidays saw a long traffic jam in front of the Gotthard tunnel on Saturday. Traffic jams between Erstfeld and Göschenen in canton Uri were up to 11 kilometres long early in the morning.
This content was published on
The water temperature of the Rhine River could rise by up to 4.2° degrees Celsius by the end of the century due to the warming planet, scientists warn.
This content was published on
The Federal Council wants to explore the possibilities of joining the European Union’s €800-billion rearmament programme without compromising Swiss neutrality.
Defence Minister Pfister stresses importance of Swiss mission in Balkans
This content was published on
During a visit to the Balkans region last week, Swiss Defence Minister Martin Pfister met Swisscoy peacekeeping troops in Kosovo.
Premiere for Swiss Air Force on French National Day
This content was published on
On July 14, the Swiss Air Force will take part in the traditional air parade in Paris to mark the French bank holidays with an F/A-18 fighter jet. This is a first for Switzerland.
Swiss launch competition for memorial to Nazi victims
This content was published on
The victims of Nazi Germany are to be commemorated on the Casinoterrasse in Bern. A competition will be held to determine what the site will look like.
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.