AFP, GENEVA: Switzerland aims to take part in European military airplane projects in order ultimately to buy its own aircraft to carry troops, which Bern only hires at present, a defence ministry spokesman said Friday.
“We are studying the possibility of purchasing one or two aircraft to replace those we hire and participating in a pool of European airplanes,” the spokesman, Claude Gerbex, told AFP.
According to Swiss daily Le Temps, Switzerland plans to buy for the first time light military aircraft such as the C-295M made by Spanish firm Casa or the C-27J from US giant Lockheed Martin and Italy's Alenia.
Defence Minister Samuel Schmid must decide before mid-February whether to include these acquisitions in the 2004 arms budget, at a total cost of about 300 million Swiss francs (240 million euros, 200 million euros), the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources.
Bern would also be able to participate in an exchange platform of military air transport, established by the European Union in the Netherlands, it said.
But the plan could run into trouble at the heart of the Swiss government, which defends the country's strict neutrality, the newspaper reported.
