“If a system is not efficient enough…”: Switzerland considers a European alternative to American air defense

Dependence on Washington in terms of arms is no longer a taboo subject. It has even become a concrete problem for several countries, with delays lengthening and additional costs accumulating. Switzerland is currently experiencing this painfully. In 2022, the Swiss Confederation signed for American Patriot systems from Raytheon as part of its Air 2030 program, for an amount of approximately 2.3 billion Swiss francs ($2.9 billion). This is a contract for five air and anti-missile defense units. Deliveries were initially scheduled to take place between 2027 and 2028. This was before Washington decided, in July 2025, to give priority to Ukraine. Bern is now facing cost overruns and potential delays of up to five years, i.e. delivery in 2032… or even later.

To remedy this situation, Switzerland is considering a European alternative, more precisely Franco-Italian: the SAMP-T system. This was stated by Markus Mäder, State Secretary for Security, in an interview au Financial Times. “We want to be interoperable with our environment, and this environment is Europe,” he told the British daily. “We’re not saying we’re going to radically change the system, but if one system isn’t good enough… let’s try to find another.” Already at the beginning of April, Swiss Defense Minister Martin Pfister even mentioned the possibility of “abandoning” a purchase from the United States “in the event of a delay”.

Like its predecessor the SAMP-T (for ground-to-air medium range), the SAMP-T NG (for “new generation”) is the result of a partnership between France and Italy, led by the Eurosam consortium bringing together the Italian and French branches of the missile manufacturer MBDA as well as Thales, the electronics and French defense. The manufacturers of the SAMP-T NG system plan the first deliveries to France and Italy in 2027. Denmark in 2025 became the first country to sign a contract to purchase the SAMP-T NG, with the first deliveries normally expected in 2028 or 2029. Ukraine in will also receive one from 2026 to test it against “ballistic threats”, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced last March.

The “best mobile ground-air system”

The SAMP-T NG, presented by Thales as “the best mobile ground-air system to guarantee the protection of airspace”, has a detection range of up to 400 kilometers and a target interception range of 150 kilometers. If its predecessor, which entered service in 2010, was designed to intercept planes, drones and can deal with “rustic ballistic targets” as specified in a budget document established by the Defense Committee of the National Assembly, the SAMP-T NG should be able to destroy ballistic missiles and maneuvering hypersonic missiles. This system is notably equipped with a Thales Ground Fire radar, “the best radar in the field of surveillance and air defense thanks to its unrivaled performance”, according to Thales.

The SAMP-T NG is, however, not the only alternative option to the American system. The Swiss government, already entangled in an order for American F-35 combat planes at colossal additional costs – the Federal Council will only purchase 30 F-35s against the 36 initially planned – declared last May that it had received responses from France, Germany, Israel and South Korea as part of its search for a second long-range air and missile defense system. Concretely, specifies the specialized site Opexnews, Berne has extended its consultation to the German Diehl Defense which offers its IRIS-T SLX, to the South Korean Hanwha for its L-SAM and to Israel for its David’s Sling (or ‘David’s sling’ co-developed by Rafael and Raytheon) as well as the Arrow 2.

Switzerland wants to “intensify its cooperation” with the EU, but…

Despite the fact that, so far, few countries have ordered the SAMP-T and most of Europe remains dependent on American technology, this system has become a symbol of the European desire to reduce its dependence on defense systems American aircraft such as the Patriot. If Switzerland commanded the Franco-Italian air defense system, this would therefore mark a significant change in Bern’s acquisition strategy.

Although Switzerland remains outside NATO and the EU, Markus Mäder said au Financial Times that Bern wanted to deepen defense cooperation and interoperability with its neighbors, insisting that the country considered itself “an integral part of European security”.

However, Switzerland does not consider a strengthening of European cooperation in defense matters to be incompatible with maintaining close ties with the United States. “We wish to intensify our cooperation with Europe, while maintaining effective cooperation in matters of security and defense with the United States,” he was careful to point out. “For us, it is not a contradiction, but a complementarity.”

Historical neutrality under debate

The question of rearmament sparks lively debates in Switzerland. It touches on neutrality, a very sensitive issue at the very heart of this country’s identity for more than two centuries. Bern is under international pressure regarding its defense spending. Switzerland devotes around 0.7% of its GDP to defense and aims for 1% by 2032, a good figure lower than the objectives discussed by NATO members.

The war in Ukraine and the American disengagement have put defense issues back at the center of concerns in this country. Markus Mäder considers Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a “decisive turning point” having forced Switzerland to review its security assumptions. The war notably led to the creation of the State Secretariat for Security Policy (Sepos), recalls the Financial Times.

In this context of global rearmament, Switzerland is continuing the development of its first national security strategy, unveiled in draft form last December and which should be approved by the government later this year. This draft strategy indicates that Switzerland’s security environment has deteriorated significantly and urges the country to strengthen its defenses against cyberattacks, sabotage and espionage.

Any change in this area is accompanied by political constraints. In the name of its historical neutrality, deeply anchored in national identity, Bern refused to send weapons to kyiv or to authorize countries that hold weapons manufactured in Switzerland to re-export them to Ukraine. The Swiss Confederation indeed has very strict rules: it cannot deliver weapons to a country at war nor authorize the re-export of equipment purchased several years previously. This is “the most restrictive and strictest vision of neutrality”, estimated in our columns, in March 2023, Christian Bühlmann, researcher in defense policy and chief of staff of the Geneva Security Policy Center.