Swiss Air Force patch.
February 17, 2014
Hijacking in Geneva
The aircraft Hijacked to Geneva airport was escorted by Italian and French fighters. The reason? The Swiss Air Force are available between 8am and 12am and from 13h30 to 17h.
The Ethiopian Airlines plane landed on the tarmac of the international airport of Geneva
Newly elected head of the Federal Department of Defence in 2008, Ueli Maurer had set an ambitious goal: "Making Swiss army the best in the world" to Federal Councillor, the first step was to establish to ensure that the military is ready to respond quickly. But six years after the election of Ueli Maurer at the head of the army, the reality on the ground seems far removed from these statements of intent. In 2014, the Swiss Air Force intervenes only during office hours, confirmed by Laurent Savary, spokesman Air Force Swiss Army to "20 minutes".
We note that we move from being "Best army in the world " to the "The world's most ridiculous Army", Well done, Ueli!
"The Ethiopian Airlines plane was not escorted by the Swiss fighters but has instead been accompanied by Italian and French aircrafts", said Laurent Savary. We have an electronic surveillance area at any time of day or night (correction: the monitoring system mentioned costed hundreds of milions but never worked, for "We have" we understand the NSA), but we do not have means of intervention 24 hours 24. Cooperation agreements were signed with neighboring countries. We are also currently planning a capacity for continuous intervention to respond to such emergencies. "The Department of Defense said on February 11 that the purchase of Gripen was necessary for such a service."
Swiss Air Force : F/A-18 available only during office hours...
This limitation of the interventions of the army during office hours is mainly due to financial issues: a call service and commitment of pilots would be required for operations at all times. Launched by the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport, the project Ilana should remedy this situation.
Regarding the purchase of the Gripen, the Swiss people will vote at the polls May 18, 2014 (direct democracy, not likely to win according to the polls). So in summary, airspace Switzerland is not guarded at night by our fighters... Swiss citizens sleep quiet ... Dixit your Defence Minister... In one of the richest country in the world that is unable to pay its own security.
Related articles:
Choice of a new fighter aircraft of the Swiss Air Force: Description and comparison: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/01/choice-of-new-fighter-aircraft-of-swiss.html
Swiss Air Force - The Gripen saga continues ...: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/02/swiss-air-force-gripen-saga-continues.html
Patrouille Suisse: a boss flies to the rescue: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/02/patrouille-suisse-boss-flies-to-rescue.html
The Patrouille Suisse will continue to exist: http://orbiterchspacenews.blogspot.ch/2013/02/the-patrouille-suisse-will-continue-to.html
Images, Text, Credits: ATS / Swiss Air Force / Orbiter.ch Aerospace.
Greetings, Orbiter.ch
