The Swiss army launched a large -scale exercise on Tuesday, with a thousand soldiers mobilized for a rehearsal course (CR) on a huge place of arms in Austria, as there are not in Switzerland. The goal is to strengthen the country’s defense capacity.
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“It’s a special day for our ground troops. We have not known such an exercise in the past 30 years, “said one of the commanders of the operation when departing from Thoune (BE).
The Place d’Armes d’Ascalleteig in Austria extends over 157 km2, more than fifteen times more than that of Bure (Ju). Enough to offer a single field of action and to exercise different tactical options for ground combat.
Dozens of armored vehicles and tanks are transported – Leopard combat tanks, Piranhas vehicles, troubleshooting tanks in particular – as well as several tonnes of engagement and equipment equipment. Eleven rail compositions, with a total length of almost 4.3 km, are necessary for this operation.
Interoperability
This exercise, baptized “Trias 25”, must provide precious lessons for the future of land forces, technologically, tactical, logistics. Without forgetting interoperability (coordination with foreign armies): around 160 German soldiers and 120 Austrians are indeed associated with it.
The preparation The exercise lasted a year and a half. It will last until May 9, the specific instruction starting next Monday.
-The mobilized soldiers will go to Austria aboard around twenty coaches. On site, they will notably perform an exercise “24 hours a day” for five days: the first two days, for autonomous training, then the following three, for the exercise of unit itself with simulation systems.
“Threat close to our borders”
The scenario describes a situation abroad “in which a threat close to our borders has extended to Switzerland, with infragency clashes and armed conflicts”, specifies the defense group. It is a question of recovering the vital infrastructure for the company, which is partly in built areas and which have been identified and taken fragmentation by the opposing camp.
The exercises relate to the deployment, the crossing of a trenches system and the invasion of a locality. During the simulation, committed countries do not train against each other, but in mixed teams, in order to “strengthen cooperation”.
The mechanized battalion 14, subject to the mechanized brigade 11, will be the main player in the operation. It is reinforced by additional forces and specialists from other areas.
More generally, the Swiss army intends to “regence the different categories of ground forces in collaboration with the forces in airspace, in electromagnetic space and in the information space (in the form of an integrated network of sensors, intelligence, conduct and action) in order to prevent a climbing of tensions in any real situation”.
Important investment
Compared to a normal CR in Switzerland, this course has an additional cost of around four million francs. The project manager is the Benedikt Roos division, commander of the land forces. The exercise director is Brigadier Christoph Roduner, commander of the mechanized brigade 11.
The Swiss soldiers who participate in services abroad do so on a voluntary basis. In the coming years, other CRs abroad will be set up, from the battalion level to the brigade, specifies the army.
