The Swiss Federal Council has decided to join the European Sky Shield initiative and purchase air defense systems within its framework.

The Federal Department of Defense announced this on its official website.

First of all, the main focus is to adopt a declaration of accession to the ESSI Cooperative Procurement Framework Memorandum of Understanding.

As part of this memorandum, the country will improve coordination on procurement, training, and logistics to protect European skies.

Within this initiative, in addition to basic cooperation, the country plans to strengthen its own ground-based air defense system.

No official decision has yet been made on the systems the country will order, but it is reported that there is a high probability that the order will be placed for German air defense systems.

As Switzerland will be working closely with Germany and Austria, there is a high probability that it will order IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defense systems and the Skyranger anti-aircraft self-propelled gun.

This combination of systems is very popular among European countries that have joined the Sky Shield initiative, as they are manufactured by Germany.

Germany is also the lead country in this initiative and its founder, which is why most countries order air defense systems from Germany.

Militarnyi previously reported that the Austrian Ministry of Defence placed an order for the new Skyranger 30 air defense systems.

According to the signed contract, the Austrian army will start receiving Skyranger 30 air defense modules in 2026.

In total, the Austrian army will receive 36 Skyranger 30 anti-aircraft self-propelled guns, which will be installed on Austrian Pandur EVO armored vehicles.