Military of Switzerland

"Swiss Navy" redirects here. See also, Merchant Marine of Switzerland.

Military of Switzerland
Military manpower
Military age	18-40 years of age obligatorily
Availability	males age 15-49: 1,855,808 (2000 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 15-49: 1,579,921 (2000 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 42,169 (2000 est.)
Military expenditures
Dollar figure	$3.1 billion (FY98)
Percent of GDP	1.2% (FY98)

The Armed Forces of Switzerland is a unique institution somewhere between a militia and a regular army. It is equipped with mostly modern, sophisticated, and well-maintained weapons systems and equipment.

History

The Swiss army originated from the cantonal troops of the Old Swiss Confederacy, called upon in cases of external threats by the Tagsatzung or by the canton in distress. In the federal treaty of 1815, the Tagsatzung prescribed cantonal troops to put a contingent of 2% of the population of each canton at the federation's disposition, amounting to a force of some 33,000 men. The cantonal armies were converted into the federal army (Bundesheer) with the constitution of 1848. From this time, it was illegal for the individual cantons to declare war or to sign capitulations or peace agreements. Paragraph 13 explicitly prohibited the federation from sustaining a standing army, and the cantons were allowed a maximum standing force of 300 each (not including the Landjäger corps, a kind of police force). Paragraph 18 declared the obligation of every Swiss citizen to serve in the federal army if conscripted (Wehrpflicht), setting its size at 3% of the population plus a reserve of again half that number, amounting to a total force of some 80,000.

The first complete mobilization, under the command of Hans Herzog, was triggered by the Franco-Prussian War in 1871.

In 1875, the army was called in to crush a strike of workers at the Gotthard tunnel. Four workers were shot and 13 were severely wounded.

Paragraph 19 of the revised constitution of 1874 extended the definition of the federal army to every able-body citizen, swelling the size of the army at least in theory from below 150,000 to more than 700,000, with population growth during the 20th century rising further to some 1.5 million, the second largest armed force per capita after the Israeli Defence Forces.

A major maneuver commanded in 1912 by Ulrich Wille, a reputed germanophile, convinced visiting European heads of state, in particular Kaiser Wilhelm II, of the efficacity and determination of the Swiss defense, Wille subseqently was put in command of the second complete mobilization, and Switzerland escaped invasion in the course of World War I. Wille also ordered the suppression of the general strike (Landesstreik) of 1918 with military force. Three workers were killed, and a rather larger number of soldiers died of the Spanish flu during mobilization. In 1932, the army was called to suppress an anti-fascist demonstration in Geneva. The troops shot 13 unarmed demonstrators, wounding another 65. This incident permanently damaged the army's reputation, leading to persisting calls for its abolition among left wing politicians. In both the 1918 and the 1932 incidents, the troops deployed were consciously selected from rural regions such as the Berner Oberland, fanning the enmity between the traditionally conservative rural population and the urban working class. The third complete mobilization of the army took place during World War II under the command of Henri Guisan (see also Switzerland during the World Wars).

In 1989, the status of the army as a national icon was shaken by a popular initiative aiming at its complete dissolution (Gruppe für eine Schweiz ohne Armee) receiving 35.6% support. This triggered a series of reforms, and in 1995, the number of troops was reduced to 400,000 ("Armee 95"). Article 58.1 of the 1999 constitution repeats that the army is "in principle" organized as a militia, implicitly allowing a small number of professional soldiers. A second initiative aimed at the army's dissolution in 2001 received a mere 21.9% support. Nevertheless, the army was shrunk again in 2004, to 220,000 men ("Armee XXI").

Military services

Swiss Army
Swiss Air Force

On May 18, 2003, Swiss voters approved the military reform project "Army XXI" to drastically reduce the size of the Swiss Army. Starting in January 2004, the 524,000-strong militia was pared down to 220,000 conscripts, including 80,000 reservists. The defence budget of SFr 4.3 billion ($3.1 billion) was trimmed by SFr 300 million and some 2,000 jobs are expected to be shed between 2004 and 2011.

The mandatory time of service for normal soldiers was curtailed from 300 to 260 days. All able-bodied Swiss males aged between 20 and 30 (in some cases longer) must serve, but about one third of them are excluded for various reasons. For women, military service is voluntary.

A new category of soldiers called "single-term conscripts" discharge the total time of service of 300 days of active duty in one go. Recruiting to the single-term conscripts is on a voluntary basis, but it should not exceed 20% of a year's draft. The rest continue to follow the traditional Swiss models of serving about three months at first and then doing three or four weeks per year until the required number of days or the age of 34 has been reached.

The armed forces have a small nucleus of about 3,600 professional staff, half of whom are either instructors or staff officers. Women may volunteer to serve in the armed forces and may now join all units, including combat troops. About 2,000 women already serve in the army but, until the "Armee XXI" reform, were not allowed to use weapons for purposes other than self-defence. Since the reform, women can take on any position within the armed forces.

Men who want to apply for service in the Swiss Guard need to have completed their basic military service in Switzerland.

Naval Patrol

Being landlocked, Switzerland does not have a navy, but they do maintain a fleet of military patrol boats, numbering 18 in 1994. They patrol the Swiss border lakes - Lake Geneva, Lake Maggiore and Lake Constance. These boats are sometimes humorously referred to as the "Swiss Navy".

Defence ministers

Member of the Federal Council heading the "Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports", (formerly "Federal Military Department"):

Ranks

Rank designations in German, French and Italian with abbreviations and corresponding NATO codes:

Enlisted:

Rekrut (Rekr) / recrue (recr) / recluta (recl)
Soldat (Sdt) / soldat (sdt) / soldato (sdt)
Gefreiter (Gfr) / appointé (app) / appuntato (app)
Obergefreiter (Obgfr) / appointé-chef (app chef) / appuntato capo

Non-commissioned officers:

Korporal (Kpl) / caporal (cpl) / caporale (cpl)
Wachtmeister (Wm) / sergent (sgt) / sergente (sgt)
Oberwachtmeister (Obwm) / sergent-chef (sgt chef) / sergente capo
Fourier (Four) / fourrier (four) / furiere
Feldweibel (Fw) / sergent-major (sgtm) / sergente maggiore
Hauptfeldweibel (Hptfw) / sergent-major chef (sgtm chef) / sergente maggiore capo
Adjutant Unteroffizier (Adj Uof) / adjudant sous-officier (adj sof) / aiutante sottoufficiale
Stabsadjutant (Stabsadj) / adjudant d’état-major (adj EM) / aiutante di stato maggiore
Hauptadjutant (Hptadj) / adjudant-major (adj maj) / aiutante maggiore
Chefadjutant (Chefadj) / adjudant-chef (adj chef) / aiutante capo

Subaltern officers:

OF-1 Leutnant (Lt) / lieutenant (lt) / tenente (ten)
OF-1 Oberleutnant (Oblt) / premier-lieutenant (plt) / primo tenente (Iten)

Captain:

OF-2 Hauptmann (Hptm) / capitaine (cap) / capitano (cap)

Staff officers:

OF-3 Major (Maj) / major (maj) / maggiore (magg)
OF-4 Oberstleutnant (Oberstlt) / lieutenant-colonel (lt col) / tenente colonnello
OF-5 Oberst / colonel (col) / colonnello

Higher staff officers:

OF-6 Brigadier (Br) / brigadier / brigadiere
OF-7 Divisionär (Div) / divisionnaire / divisionario
OF-8 Korpskommandant (KKdt) / commandant de corps / comandante di corpo
OF-9 General / général / generale

High Command

In peacetime, the armed forces are led by the Chief of the Armed Forces (Chef der Armee), who reports to the head of the Department of Defence and to the Federal Council as a whole. The current Chief of the Armed Forces is Korpskommandant Christophe Keckeis.

In times of crisis or war, the Federal Assembly elects a General (OF-9) as Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces (Oberbefehlshaber der Armee). There have been four Generals in Swiss history:

Henri Dufour (1847-1848, Sonderbundskrieg; and 1856-57, Neuchâtel Crisis)
Hans Herzog (1871-1872, Franco-Prussian War)
Ulrich Wille (1914-1918, WW I)
Henri Guisan (1939-1945, WW II)

Officers which would have the title of general in other armies do not bear the title general (OF-8: Commandant de corps, OF-7 Divisionnaire and OF-6 Brigadier), as this title is strictly a wartime designation. The distinctive feature of their rank insignia are traditionally stylized edelweiss (Bild:GradabzeichenSchweizerArmee-HSO.png). However, when Swiss Officers are involved in peacekeeping missions abroad, they often receive temporary ranks that do not exist in the Swiss Army, to put them on an equal footing with foreign officers. For example, the head of the Swiss delegation at the NNSC in Korea (see below) had a rank of major general.

Intelligence community

The Swiss military department maintains the Onyx intelligence gathering system, similar in concept to the UKUSA's ECHELON system, but at a much smaller scale.

The Onyx system was launched in 2000 in order to monitor both civil and military communications, such as telephone, fax or Internet traffic, carried by satellite. It was completed in late 2005 and currently consists in three interception sites, all based in Switzerland. In a way similar to ECHELON, Onyx uses lists of keywords to filter the intercepted content for information of interest.

On 8 January 2006, the Swiss newspaper Sonntagsblick (Sunday edition of the Blick newspaper) published a secret report produced by the Swiss government using data intercepted by Onyx. The report described a fax sent by the Egyptian department of Foreign Affairs to the Egyptian Embassy in London, and described the existence of secret detention facilities run by the CIA in Eastern Europe. The Swiss government did not officially confirm the existence of the report, but started a judiciary procedure for leakage of secret documents against the newspaper on 9 January 2006.

Peacekeeping missions

Switzerland being a neutral country, its army does not take part in armed conflicts in other countries. However, over the years, the Swiss army has been part of several peacekeeping missions around the world.

Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (SHQSU)

From 1999 to 2001, The Swiss Army was present in Bosnia and Herzegovina with headquarters in Sarajevo. Its mission, part of the Swiss Peacekeeping Missions, was to provide logistic and medical support to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE. The mission was named SHQSU standing for Swiss Headquarters Support Unit to BiH. It is interesting to note that none of the active soldiers were armed during the duration of the mission. The Swiss soldiers were recognized among the other armies present on the field by their distinctive yellow beret. In Switzerland this is known as SWISSCOY.

Mission in Korea (NNSC)

Switzerland is part of the Neutral Nations Supervisory Commission (NNSC) which was created to monitor the armistice between North and South Korea. Since the responsibilities of the NNSC have been much reduced over the past few years, only 5 people are still part of the Swiss delegation, located near the Korean DMZ.

References:

Criticism

There is an organised movement in Switzerland (Gruppe Schweiz ohne Armee; GSoA / Groupe pour une Suisse sans Armée; GSsA - Group for a Switzerland without an Army, in English) aiming at the abolition of the military. The Swiss have voted twice on such a referendum. The first time was in 1989, when 64.4% of the voters voted in favour of maintaining the Swiss Army. The second vote was in 1999, with 76.8% in favour.

In 1992, after the Swiss government decided to buy FA-18 jets, they collected about half a million signatures within one month for a referendum. The population decided to buy the jets, although 42.9% voted against the project.

The organisation is still active in antimilitaristic work and also in the anti-war movement.

Discussion

All able-bodied male Swiss citizens are conscripted to the armed forces. For women the service is voluntary. Since 1996, Swiss citizens can apply for civilian service instead. Entry to the civilian service is based on moral grounds and subject to a successful application.

A significant number of young men choose to avoid military service by visiting a doctor who attests to their incapacity to do military service on medical grounds, or try to fake it during recruitment through psychological and physical tests that are taken during recruitment. This can be on either physical or mental grounds. Those who are found unable to serve the military pay an additional 2% income tax, and must in any case serve in Civil Protection (Police, Fire Department etc.), though the duration of this is much shorter. As of January 2004, the income tax was raised to 3% by the Federal Council. Also, those who have conscience issues against war (for example, people who experienced violence at a young age, or have been in a warzone) can serve in Civil Service, where they do various kinds of social services, such as reconstructing cultural sites, helping the elderly and so on and so forth. However, you may only request enrollment in Civil Service if you are psychologically and physically eligible for military service, and you have to put in 1 and a half times more time than you would as a soldier.

Conscription occurs at the age of 18 years. At the age of 20, about half the service is done during an initial training period of 21 or 18 weeks, depending on the service branch, with the exception of the Grenadiers, an elite infantry unit with a 25-week boot camp. Initial training (following regular boot camp) for members of the AAD, Switzerland's new SAS-type Special Forces unit, which is an all-volunteer professional unit with a rigorous selection process, is 18 months. Thereafter, men remain in the military until the age of 30 (or longer, if the military service is not yet completed), performing three weeks of training every year. However, the service period of non-commissioned officers and officers is significantly longer. It is possible to postpone the initial training to finish university. The successive training weeks can also be postponed, but there is limited scope. In general, men interrupt their work during these weeks. During military service, the employee is paid a compensation of 80% of his regular salary by the state. Most employers, however, continue to pay the full salary during military service. In this case, the compensation is paid to the employer.

To reduce training and logistics costs, the Swiss military standardises on a few carefully selected types of weapons. For example, Switzerland uses only one rifle model (except for military police, who can also use Heckler & Koch MP5s), the FASS 90, and three types of ground-based anti-aircraft systems, including a Swiss-built and improved version of the Stinger (Swiss army knives are also issued, although they are neither red nor considered weapons). In 1993, the Swiss government ordered 34 FA-18 fighter jets from the United States of America, which were subsequently re-built in Switzerland, notably for the electronics. Also, the software supporting the pilot was improved and then sold to the United States of America.

Famously, members of the armed forces keep their rifles and uniforms in their homes for immediate mobilisation, as well as 50 rounds of ammunition in a sealed tin, to be used for self defence while traveling to the mobilisation points. Additional ammunition is kept at military bases where the militia are supposed to report. Swiss military doctrines are arranged in peculiar ways to make this organisation effective. Switzerland claims to be able to mobilise the entire population for warfare within 12 hours. In contrast, it can take several weeks to several months for a militarily-active country such as the United States to mobilise its military force.

Every year, those still in Reserve have to present themselves with their rifles at a shooting stand, and fire a certain number of rounds, which are issued.

Shelters and fortifications

Swiss building codes require radiation and blast shelters to protect against bombing. There is a bed for every Swiss person in one of the many shelters. There are also hospitals and command centres in such shelters, aimed at keeping the country running in case of emergencies.

Moreover, tunnels and key bridges are built with tank traps. Tunnels are also primed with demolition charges to be used against invading forces. Permanent fortifications are established in the Alps, as bases from which to retake the fertile valleys after a potential invasion. They include underground air bases which are adjacent to normal runways; the aircraft, crew and supporting material are housed in the caverns. The concept of underground fortifications in the Alps stems from the so-called "Reduit" concept of the World War II. It was intended that if the Axis Powers were to invade Switzerland, they would have to do so at a huge price. The army would barricade itself in the mountains within the fortresses, which would be very difficult to take.

The Swiss government thought that the aim of an invasion of Switzerland would be to control the economically important transport routes through the Swiss Alps, namely the Gotthard, the Simplon and Great St. Bernard passes, because Switzerland does not possess any significant natural resources. Those who actually served in the Swiss Army during the war never criticised this concept - even if it openly meant that the enemy could take the civilian population in the plains hostage. Only recently have allegations been made that certain parts of the Swiss economy worked at the biddings of the Hitler regime (banks, mechanical industry, and transportation services), suggesting that not only the army, but also the economy, prevented an invasion of Switzerland.

Leadership

In contrast to most other comparable Armies, officer candidates are not necessarily career regulars. Instead, until 2004 officers were traditionally selected from the pool of NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and then underwent OCS (officer candidate school, which was and is open to both militia - i.e. officers who also have a civilian job - and future professional officers), five months of intensive training that emphasised small-unit and platoon-sized unit tactics. This system ensured that all officers knew what it was like to be a grunt.

This advantage (at least from a leadership point of view) was abolished with the Army XXI reform as a concession to the Swiss economy which was increasingly unhappy about having its future leaders away for two years at a time (the time it took to become an officer until 2004). In the new system, officers-to-be are selected early on from the pool of boots (based on criteria such as leadership potential but also education) and sent to officer training fairly quickly, which reduces the time these "instant officers" take to be fully trained but also means that they neither have the advantage of having been NCOs nor having had time to slowly mature as leaders. Consequently, the new system has already come under pressure and is under review.

To assure a generally high level of military leadership above the rank of first lieutenant, the Army maintains the HKA (Hoehere Kaderschule der Armee) which is responsible for an array of professionally run schools such as BUSA (Berufsunteroffiziersschule der Armee) which runs a program for professional non-commissioned officers, the MILAK (Militaerakademie) which runs a bachelor degree program for professional officers, programs for company and battalion commanders, a number of staff courses, and the General Staff and Command College (Gst S), an elite training program whose graduates leave their former branches and are inducted into the so-called General Staff Corps.

Future general staff officers are selected from the best company commanders and undergo battalion commander training before starting general staff training. Only 30 new trainees are selected per year and even fewer complete the demanding training. Being a general staff officer is a prerequisite for a range of important jobs on Brigade and higher level, such as G2 (chief of intelligence) or G3 (chief of operations).

The ratio of professional versus militia officers is about 1:1. As a rule of thumb, a significant number of senior civil servants and business leaders in Switzerland are general staff officers. This may change, as military service has become less popular in the last few years - nowadays, a lot of people consider being an officer more of a liability than an asset.

Weapon systems

Small arms

SIG 550 assault rifle (known as Sturmgewehr 90 or F ass 90)
SIG P220 semi-automatic pistol
FIM-92 Stinger shoulder-fired anti-air missile

Armoured vehicles

Leopard 2 main battle tank
CV90 infantry fighting vehicle
M109 howitzer self-propelled armoured artillery
Mowag Piranha armoured troop transport

Aircraft

Popular Culture

In his 2002 HBO special " Live on Broadway", Robin Williams asks in regard to the Swiss army, "How can you trust an army, that has a wine opener on its knife?" (impersonating a Swiss officer briefing soldiers before a battle) "Many of you men have never opened a Chardonnay under fire. You take out the wine bottle, put out the cork and throw."

Fact one is: The Swiss Army Knife beeing given to Swiss soldiers and officers doesn't have a cork opener. Fact two is: Better ask about opening a Chasslas, as this is the common white wine in Switzerland.

External links

Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports—Official site (English)
Gruppe für eine Schweiz ohne Armee (German)—'Society for a Switzerland without an Army' (militant site)
Swiss camouflage patterns (kamouflage.net)

http://www.stephenhalbrook.com/switzerland.html
http://www.constitution.org/mil/swiss_report.htm
http://www.1861.ch/ living history group representing the federal army of 1861

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