Delayed Swiss defence projects ‘getting back on track’

Defence Department sees progress on major projects Keystone-SDA

The Swiss defence ministry says progress is being made on procurement and system upgrade projects that had become bogged down.

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Of the 23 newly-prioritised projects, only most are on track, Robert Scheidegger, deputy secretary-general at the ministry, told the media on Tuesday. But he warned against excessive optimism, as inflation in particular is causing red flags.

Several major procurement projects caused concern at the end of 2025. Three months later, the situation has improved, according to defence officials.

This includes significant progress made in the project for new production systems at the Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) called Nepro and in the army project for more modern telecommunications, known as TK A.

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In these projects, the previously red traffic light has been switched to orange (TK A) and green (Nepro) respectively.

However, Scheidegger emphasised that these and other top projects are not yet at the finish line. Additional costs are to be expected in the defence sector in particular due to inflation.

Adapted from German by AI/mga

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