Military association wants to sell new tanks – and old Leopard-2

The Association of Swiss Military Companies (VMG) wants to quickly acquire new main battle tanks and sell the old Leopard 2 tanks to Germany. That ended the “glorious debate” over whether Switzerland had surplus tanks and how much to sell.

The army is currently only partially operational, the umbrella organization motivated its initiative on Friday. Modern heavy ground systems – tanks and artillery – are necessary for defense capability and must be acquired quickly.

From the point of view of the merger, this can only be done with an increase in the military budget to one percent of gross domestic product – by 2030 instead of by 2035 as the federal government envisioned. tanks has top priority because of the threat.

The Federal Public Service Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) has already presented an action plan for this. The DDPS must bring this forward and implement it quickly, the VMG demands. The union assumes that more than 300 tanks will be needed.

There are currently 134 tanks in service and 96 mothballed. Even with the reactivated Leopard 2 tanks mothballed, the third mechanized brigade could not be equipped in a reasonable time. The association argues that maintenance and value retention are too expensive for that.

In addition to purchasing new tanks, the DDPS would also have to show how many of the Leopard 2 tanks in storage it could sell to Germany. The VMG states that quick action is required.

The umbrella VMG organization includes about 30 military associations such as non-commissioned officers, officers and specialist associations with almost 100,000 members. Its purpose is to collaborate on off-duty activities and comment on Army policy issues. (sda)