Switzerland to begin testing air defence bids
Two downselected bids being offered for Switzerland’s long-range air defence system requirement are due to undergo testing by armasuisse in collaboration with the Swiss army in coming months, which will assess the radar detection performance of each of the systems.
These will take place in August and September in Gubel in Menzingen, and will assess the Patriot system developed by Raytheon and the SAMP/Tdeveloped by the Eurosam consortium, testing the detection capability of the offerings.
They will both have two weeks respectively to demonstrate the performance of the radars in each, which will then be verified by the government.
This acquisition programme is dubbed DSA – or ground-to-air defence – and falls under Switzerland’s Air2030 effort.
It aims to acquire a new long-range air defence system, and will fill the gap left after the Bloodhound guided missile system was decommissioned in 2000.
Raytheon and Eurosam submitted their respective proposals in March 2019 in response to requirements issued by the Swiss government in March 2018.
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