Switzerland narrows second air defense choice to Israel or France

Switzerland has narrowed its search for a second long-range air defense system to Israel's Barak MX and the French-Italian SAMP/T NG, and will keep its delayed order for U.S. Patriot systems, the Swiss government decided on Oct. 28, Switzerland's defense procurement agency armasuisse said. The Federal Council, Switzerland's seven-member government, picked the two finalists after evaluating offers from four manufacturers in France, Israel and South Korea, citing technical, military, arms policy and security policy factors. It told the defense department to continue assessing both systems and to weigh foreign policy and economic considerations as well before a final choice, without saying how many fire units it wants or when a contract could be signed. The Swiss government said it needs long-range ground-based air defense, with an adequate stock of interceptor missiles, to counter long-distance attacks including ballistic missiles, working alongside short- and medium-range systems and fighter jets. A second system alongside Patriot would let Switzerland protect a wider area and reduce its dependence on a single supplier and a single logistics chain, it said. Switzerland ordered five Patriot systems in 2022, with deliveries due to begin in 2026 and finish in 2028, but in July 2025 the U.S. Department of War told the Swiss defense department that it would reprioritize Patriot deliveries to support Ukraine, pushing Switzerland to later production lots. In May, the Swiss defense department said Washington now expects the delay to run five to seven years because of the war in the Middle East, up from an earlier estimate of four to five years, and that Switzerland is withholding payments to the U.S. government while delivery dates and costs remain open. The Swiss government said the United States has decided to put countries that gave Ukraine their own Patriot systems first in line, but concluded that dropping Patriot without a replacement is not an option in the current situation. Barak MX, built by Israel Aerospace Industries, is a modular system that can fire interceptors of different ranges from the same launchers and is part of the air and missile defense network Israel has agreed to build for Greece. SAMP/T NG, made by the French-Italian Eurosam consortium of MBDA and Thales, is the latest version of the system France and Italy already operate, and Switzerland passed over an earlier SAMP/T offer when it chose Patriot in 2022. French defense site Opex360 reported that armasuisse approached five manufacturers in May, including South Korea's Hanwha Aerospace with its L-SAM, Israel's Rafael with David's Sling and Germany's Diehl Defence with the IRIS-T SLX, alongside the two systems that made the shortlist. The long-range purchase sits on top of other Swiss air defense programs. Switzerland is buying Diehl's IRIS-T SLM for the medium-range role after it was left as the sole bidder in that competition, and it plans to buy Rheinmetall's Skyranger short-range air defense to counter drones, while rising costs have led the government to cut its planned F-35A fleet from 36 aircraft to about 30. Parliament is due to debate an extra 24 billion Swiss francs for the armed forces during its winter 2026 session, including 6 billion francs for the second long-range system and at least part of Patriot's higher costs. Once the evaluation is complete and Parliament has decided on that funding, expected in early 2027, the Federal Council will rule on a possible additional credit for Patriot and on how to proceed with the second system.