[Skybird]

Sort of an excursion: the Neue Zürcher Zeitung writes:
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Rheinmetall questions Switzerland as a production location

¨ The tightened War Material Act prevents subsequent deliveries of ammunition in the event of war. Germany, as the largest customer, doubts the reliability of the Swiss arms industry. The German Rheinmetall Group is now taking action.

Countering threats from the air is one of the most important capabilities of modern armies. It is about protecting their own population and critical infrastructures from cruise missiles, rockets or drones. Ukraine will survive the winter politically and militarily only thanks to a strong ground-based air defense.

An industrial center in the development of advanced defense systems in this field is Rheinmetall Air Defence, formerly Oerlikon-Bührle. The group conducts research and production in Switzerland - and it continues to set standards in all elements. From sensor technology, i.e. target recognition, to digital networking of the fire control system, to the actual hardware: the guns and the ammunition that goes with them.

Actually, the German parent company Rheinmetall, headquartered in Düsseldorf, had wanted to expand the Swiss site. There was talk of up to 60 additional jobs. But this plan has now been halted, as two independent sources confirmed to the NZZ. Even more, Rheinmetall is starting to move production lines from Switzerland to other countries. This was reported yesterday by Radio SRF in its "Echo der Zeit" program, also based on solid sources.

No export in case of war

Rheinmetall itself remains silent: "Please understand that in view of the security policy implications, we cannot comment on the subject at present," writes media spokesman Oliver Hoffmann to the NZZ in response to a corresponding inquiry. In fact, the topic is highly explosive. For Rheinmetall's corporate management is apparently putting a thick question mark behind the reliability of Swiss operations, as well as politics.

More is at stake than the 12,400 rounds of ammunition for the Gepard anti-aircraft tank, which have caused rancor between Bern and Berlin in recent weeks. The political spectacle surrounding the question of whether Germany should be allowed to continue supplying Ukraine with a small residual stock of 35mm bullets has flushed the real problem to the surface: foreign customers have realized that the Swiss arms industry would no longer be able to deliver supplies, especially ammunition, in the event of war.

This is what the Swiss War Material Act, which was tightened up just over a year ago, wants. The majority in parliament clearly stipulated in Article 22 that foreign transactions will not be approved "if the country of destination is involved in an internal or international armed conflict." In concrete terms, this means that if a country is at war, the Federal Council can no longer supply ammunition. In the event of an emergency, supplies from Switzerland would dry up.

Ammunition as the largest export item

The NATO states would also be affected if Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty were to be used to declare an alliance emergency: If a country is attacked, it can count on the support of its partner states. After a major incident in the Baltic States or in Poland, Switzerland's neighboring countries - with the exception of Austria - could find themselves at war with Russia within a very short time.

This primarily alarms Germany, which has cut back its defense capability in recent years. The Bundeswehr's ammunition depots are yawning empty. According to German media reports, supplies will not last more than one to three days. That is why representatives of industry and politics met last weekend to negotiate liabilities.

For certain armaments, however, there are dependencies on production in Switzerland. The reverse is also true: Germany is the largest buyer of ammunition from Switzerland. This is confirmed by the latest figures from the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Seco) in Bern: from January 1 to September 30 of this year, Swiss industry delivered almost 27 million francs worth of bullets to Germany. It is the largest export item in the current statistics.

Swiss security policy takes center stage

Despite the importance of production, Swiss politics is giving the issue a wide berth. Although a specific proposal by the FDP to relax re-export regulations is pending, no one likes to address the core of the debate: The War Material Act threatens the existence of domestic arms manufacturers. However, there is currently no majority in parliament to amend the law, and there is even the threat of a blocking majority: the left is stubbornly sticking to its pre-war ideological course, and the SVP is now getting in the way of its own neutrality initiative.

This situation does not strengthen the confidence of trading partners in Swiss suppliers. The fact that Rheinmetall now apparently wants to review Switzerland as a production location is a direct consequence of this. The Group is not merely responding to the sensitivities of German politicians, who like to point the finger at Switzerland to justify their own reluctance to support Ukraine. Pressure is now apparently also being exerted by the Netherlands and Denmark, which until now have only been able to order certain types of ammunition from Rheinmetall Switzerland.

Although the defence industry is not a mainstay of the Swiss export economy, it remains central to security policy: on the one hand for the transfer of know-how with partners, and on the other for equipping the Swiss army. If domestic competition is lacking, prices for new procurements from abroad could skyrocket. It is therefore not only a question of Switzerland's foreign policy positioning, but also of elementary security issues.
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Of course it is not acceptable to demand Switzerland to break its laws. But the Swiss must ask themselves whether that law of theirs really is that legit and wise.

And customers rightfully ask themselves whether it is wise if they become customers of the Swiss. In the end they may find themselves in he situation that while they are in a need to fight a war - Russia attacks NATO for example - the Swiss claim the right to not deliver them the ammo for the weapons they sold. That is absurd.

I wrote weeks ago that the Germans only talk of the Gepard ammo so they must not talk about Leopard tanks. I seem to have been on the wrong track there, now that I learn that other nations also have issues with the Swiss, also the private industry in signficant parts, independent from poltical calls from Berlin. At least it is not just a typical German government showact running there.

The Germans now check whether they can buy some Spanish company capable to be prepared to manufacture Gepard ammo. And the Gepard is on good use in Ukraione, they love it, they say. Germany plans to deliver 30 more. And as I predicted back then: the Gepard also is used in ground combat, apparently. Some of you did not want to believe that to be clever. I have snapped up random news repeatedly now, indicating that the Gepards are also used against infantry and APCs.



Stupid that the politicians ordered the Bundeswehr to sort them out. Simply stupid.