Armasuisse

Armasuisse is a federal agency of the Swiss Confederation. It is the procurement organization for armaments of Switzerland and is affiliated with the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport.

Armasuisse employs around 750 people. It is responsible for research, development, evaluation, procurement, maintenance and liquidation of materials and construction of the Swiss Army. The budget was 217 million Swiss francs in 2006. Chief of Armasuisse is Ulrich Appenzeller.

The Armasuisse group covers many skills as a provider with a broad field of activity. This ranges from the evaluation, procurement, maintenance and liquidation of materials and systems for the Comprehensive Real Estate Management in VBS to ensuring scientific and technical services. Main clients and partners is the army.

History
As a forerunner of the Armasuisse it was the War Technical Department, which was subordinated to the army top until the so-called Mirage Affair of 1964 took place .In the Mid-1960s, it was named as a group for military services (GRD) a separate organizational unit, on a par with (among others) the group of general staff services. Since that time, the chief executive of the GRD is called Chief of Armament and is equivalent to the rank of a corps commander. In 1994 it has been renamed to Armor Group (GR). In 2001, the Federal Office of Topography of the group armor was assumed. Finally, in 2003, the group was divided into RUAG armor (with all maintenance and production operations of GR) and armasuisse (procurement and related technical and scientific bodies).

Organization
The Armasuisse was divided by mid-2008 in six areas of competence:


 * Federal Office for Command, Telematics and Training Systems (BFTA), especially in Bern
 * Federal Office for weapons systems, vehicles and equipment (FWVE), especially in Bern
 * Federal Office of Topography in Wabern near Bern
 * Real Estate (responsible for 260 square kilometers of land and 26,000 objects of the VBS), especially in Bern
 * Science and technology (S & T) in Bern, Thun and Emmen
 * Central Services, in Bern

The Federal structure was replaced by a competence structure in the fall of 2008, see below management.

The procurement consists of the areas of competence management and intelligence systems, land systems, aerospace systems, purchasing and cooperation. It is responsible for the active participation in the planning process of the customer, strategic procurement and sales management, the operational implementation of evaluation, acquisition, sale, disposal and the support of the use and maintenance phases. The main partner is the Defence sector, represented in particular by the Planning Staff of the Army and Armed Forces Logistics. The planning staff is responsible for the defense planning, formulated as the customer needs of the army and sets out the requirements. Armasuisse takes in the procurement procedure to implement the requirements of the purchaser from the army and administration.

Science and Technology
The competence of science and technology of the VBS offers its technical and scientific achievements in four product categories: technology services for the Army systems (eg, testing, analysis), risk analysis and safety concepts, quality management, and technology and research management. These include the technology monitoring, the implementation of research projects as well as national and international networking with universities, research, industry and multilateral research and development projects. S & T has a unique underground shooting channel. Services in the areas of ballistics, explosives diagnostics, electromagnetic compatibility, electronics and optronics are also available to private customers.

Real Estate Management
The VBS has approximately 26,000 hectares and 26,000 objects and is one of the largest property owners in Switzerland. The area of competence of real estate Armasuisse, the real estate management of VBS; perceives the representative of the owner and offers its services in two product groups: core and disposable inventory. The core component consists of the property, which requires the Army in the future to fulfill their tasks. Here achievements in the fields provided new construction and renovation, rental and operation. The disposable inventory includes buildings, which no longer needs by the VBS. Here, the recovery is sought (sale, rental to others, dismantling).

Federal Office of Topography (swisstopo)
The Federal Office of Topography (Swisstopo) as the competence ++ of the Federal provides spatial reference data and derived products are of high quality; introduces the basic geodetic and cadastral survey data as the basis in the national spatial data infrastructure and operates the coordination center for geographic information and geographic information systems. The National Spatial Data Infrastructure is established so that the digital data of various suppliers and users can be coordinated better and their economic benefit is increased further.

Aircraft
From the group for armor Services (GRD) the flight tests branch Emmen became the aviatic part of Armasuisse. The Pilatus PC-6 and PC-12 wear this emblem that shows a fictional experimental aircraft before Mount Pilatus. The Armasuisse regularly conducts test flights for the Swiss Air Force. The test pilots of Armasuisse are also professional military pilots which are mostly used in military as militia pilots or pilots in the squadrons. All aircraft of the Air Force may be used by the Armasuisse. For the F/A-18, the F/A-18C with the military registration J-5001 is normally used for flights by the Armasuisse (eg certification of the new version of the AIM-9 missiles), but this airplane is also used for the professional military pilots for normal use in the Air Force uses. In addition, the Armasuisse has 3 of their very own aircraft which the Air Force also has access to if required:

A Pilatus PC-6 Porter with has a cockpit that is a more modern version than the PC-6T of the Air Force. This machine is used as liaison aircraft, registered as civil HB-FCF. The Pilatus PC-12 with the civil registration HB-FOG is used for transport and travel together with tasks to calibrate the FLORAKO radar system, the calibration of the Multifunctional Information Distribution System(MIDS) Link 16 and the aircraft radio survey. The Diamond DA42 Centaur OPA with the military Immmatrikulation R-711 can be flown as a manned aircraft or as unmanned UAV. It is to develope methods for the mixed military operations of UAVs and manned military aircraft in a common mission and the integration of unmanned aircraft in civil aviation. In addition, this airplane can be used for liaison flights.

Armasuisse also uses an Aurora (a modification of a Diamond DA42MPP which can be flown both manned as well as unmanned).

CEO Ulrich Appenzeller, Chief of Armament


 * Resources and Support
 * Competence of command and reconnaissance systems
 * Competence of Land systems
 * Competence Aeronautical Systems
 * Shopping area of competence and cooperation
 * swisstopo (Federal Office of Topography)
 * Competence Estate
 * Competence of science and technology