16 Military of Switzerland

The Federal Office for Defence Procurement (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.

The Chief of the Armed Forces commands the Swiss Armed Forces in time of peace and reports directly to the head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports and to the Swiss Federal Council. The position was established in 2004.

Switzerland has mandatory military service in the Swiss Army for all able-bodied male citizens, who are conscripted when they reach the age of majority, though women may volunteer for any position. Conscripts make up the majority of the manpower in the Swiss Armed Forces.

The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport is one of the seven departments of the Swiss federal government. It is headed by a member of the Swiss Federal Council, the Swiss defence minister.

FLORAKO is a Swiss radar system for military and civil aviation. The acronym stands for FLORIDA radar replacement air radar system capable communication system in the initial phase of the project meant the name FLORES RALUS KOMSYS and emerged from the project name of the sub-systems. There are four surface to air missile tubes located on the site.

The FLORIDA Airspace Monitoring And Management System was an airspace monitoring and management system of the Swiss Air Force. It was built by Hughes Aircraft Company. It is located in Fullerton, California.

The General Staff of the Swiss Armed Forces (German: Generalstab Schweizer Armee was the managing military staff of Switzerland. It was led by a Chief of the General Staff who held the rank of Korpskommandant. He/she was effectively the highest-ranking officer in the Swiss military. Until 1830, the general staff consisted of 12 to 24 federal colonels and a few lieutenant colonels with experience in serving foreign armies. In 1865, the Federal Staff Office was created, with its responsibility being to maintain the Swiss combat readiness for war. In 1948, most of the services of the Federal Military Department were grouped together in the General Staff. After the Second World War, General Staff training was increasingly a precondition for the assumption of an army unit command. It operated until the end of 2003, when the reforms of Armee XXI introduced the position of Chief of the Armed Forces. Until its reorganization, the General Staff was the highest level of command in the Swiss Armed forces, with the Chief of the General Staff acting as the primus inter pares. Even after the reform of the army, the military continued to utilize, General Staff officers, who are trained in the General Staff School to become senior management assistants in the armed forces.

The Swiss intelligence community is a group of agencies with responsibilities to protect the interests and infrastructure of Switzerland.

Task Force ALBA was the name of a humanitarian operation of the Swiss Air Force in Albania under a UNHCR-mission during 1999. The goals of the operation were to restore living conditions, provide humanitarian aid, and prevent the outbreak of civil war. It was the first longterm humanitarian mission for the Air Force abroad and the first use of Swiss Air Force helicopters in the edge region of a war zone.

Onyx is a Swiss intelligence gathering system maintained by the Federal Intelligence Service - Nachrichtendienst des Bundes (NDB). The costs of the system are not public, but the amount of 100 million Swiss francs has been mentioned several times, in particular in 2000 by Werner Marti, SP deputy to the National Council (Switzerland). In March 2005, journalist Urs Paul Engeler estimated that the costs reached 400 million CHF. The Onyx system was launched in 2000, originally under the name SATOS-3, and was completed in late 2005.

The Red Cross service is since 1903 a department of the Swiss Red Cross. It consists of approximately 300 women with qualified medical training in voluntary military service in support of the medical service in the Swiss Armed Forces, founded by Henry Dunant Red Cross traditions.

The Spiez Laboratory is the Swiss institute for the protection of the population against nuclear, biological and chemical threats and dangers. It is part of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sports (DDPS) and is located in Spiez. The Spiez Laboratory is one of the five labs in the world permanently certified by the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

The SFR Airspace monitoring and management system was the first Airspace monitoring and management system of the Swiss Air Force.

The Swiss Army Central Band is a military band that is part of the Swiss Army and the representative band of the Swiss Armed Forces. It is part of the Military Music Competence Center. It is based on mostly German and French, but also modern British influences. It consists of 80 musicians who every year send a delegation abroad to introduce Swiss Military Music to the world. In recent years, the band visited military tattoos in Argentina, Brazil, Greece, China, Finland South Korea, Singapore, New Zealand and the United States. Events around the world have included the Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo, the Norwegian Military Tattoo and the Virginia International Tattoo. The band is the primary host and participant of the Basel Tattoo.

The Swisscoy is an association of the Swiss Armed Forces in Kosovo. It is provided as part of the KFOR of NATO military mission to promote peace. The association contains a contingent of more than 165 people who are available and funded from Switzerland.

SWISSINT is the center of the Swiss Armed Forces for foreign missions. The competence center is located in Oberdorf at Stans, Canton of Nidwalden.