Marching order for drones – also in the Swiss army?

“I am tempted to use the term ‘disruption’,” says Thomas Rothacher, deputy head of armaments at the Swiss Federal Office of Armaments (Armasuisse). He is referring to the massive use of drones in the war in Ukraine and the way it is disrupting the traditional system of supplying armies.

Of course, drones are not new to the military, Rothacher continues. The first tests of drone detection systems took place in 2016, but experts were surprised by the number and impact of drone operations in Ukraine.

One million drones per year

There are about a million drones that Ukraine modifies every year, sometimes builds itself and uses. Faced with this mass, Armasuisse recently set up a task force. Its mission is to identify ways for the Swiss army to ensure that it has a sufficient number of its own drones in the event of a conflict.

A major challenge, because the short development cycles and rapid innovation bursts of drones are diametrically opposed to the traditional, rather slow supply system.

“Large warehouses with drones in reserve don’t make sense,” says Thomas Rothacher. He sees the solution in networking agile companies that could manufacture drones, adapt them, supplement them and modify them quickly. In his opinion, Switzerland is very well equipped for this.

Switzerland, country of drones

Compared to its population, there are hardly any other countries with such expertise in drones. Countless start-ups from both polytechnics and universities are in the running, with highly specialised drones and sophisticated control software. Some of these flying objects are on display in the showroom of the Swiss Center for Drones and Robotics in Thun.

The deputy head of armaments is convinced that the drone ecosystem must be kept in Switzerland. In the event of a conflict, it is therefore possible to flexibly manufacture one’s own drones or to reprogram commercially available drones to adapt them to one’s needs.

The flea problem

A central problem remains, however: no drone flies without computer chips – and none of the many Swiss drone companies can manufacture these chips themselves. According to Thomas Rothacher, one solution would be a strategy of exchanging a Swiss product for computer chips.

But there is no point in deluding ourselves. This strategy also does not guarantee that the coveted electronic circuits will actually be obtained. That is why the idea is to stockpile long-lived and freely programmable chips. The problem is not completely solved – a big question mark remains.

Text translated from German with the help of DeepL/op

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