The drone defence system was ordered in October
Keystone
An anti-drone defence system ordered by the Swiss defence ministry contains key components from an Israeli arms company, research by Swiss public broadcaster SRF has discovered.
+ Get the most important news from Switzerland in your inbox
A CHF3.5 million contract was awarded in October to Securiton, a subsidiary of the Swiss Securitas Group.
SRF Rundschau has discovered that that Securiton does not manufacture the system itself but acts as a supplier for Israeli partner company D-Fend Solutions. This includes the ‘Cyber Takeover System’ that has been used to protect the World Economic Forum in Davos.
+ Warfare rewired: drones and civilian risk
Cyber Takeover relies on a scanner that detects and hacks radio signals from drones. This makes it possible to remotely control enemy drones and land them.
The Securitas Group confirmed to Rundschau that it is “collaborating with D-Fend on drone security.”
Swiss defence procurement unit Armasuisse said: “An Israeli subcontractor is integrated into Securiton’s defense system. However, Securiton is the supplier of the system to Armasuisse, and the integration responsibility lies with a Swiss supplier.”
Technology unavoidable
According to Professor Roland Siegwart, head of the Institute for Robotics at the Swiss federal technology institute ETH Zurich, Israel is a leader in drone defense.
+Swiss army uses drone technology. Should we worry?
Siegwart said D-Fend Solutions technology is effective “with standard commercial drones” but cannot stop drones that can fly without a radio connection.
Armasuisse declined to comment on whether its new defense system has a capability gap.
+ Swiss army seeks solution to killer drones
The ongoing arms cooperation between Switzerland and Israel has come under criticism in the context of the Gaza War. D-Fend Solutions is a supplier to the Israeli army.
“It’s certainly always a bit more political when Israel or other countries, some of which are at war, supply something,” said Siegwart. “But we can’t avoid using such technologies in Switzerland from countries that have already tested them.”
Adapted from German by AI/mga
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools to translate them into English. A journalist then reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication.
Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
If you have any questions about how we work, write to us at english@swissinfo.ch.
