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Brigadier
ECA GROUP UNVEILS ITS NEW GENERATION MID-SIZE AUV A18-M FOR UNDERWATER MINE WARFARE

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On 16th February ECA Group presented its latest mid-size AUV A18-M dedicated to mine counter measures. With its compactness and its unequaled high-quality imagery this new generation underwater drone becomes the reference in the category of autonomous underwater vehicles dedicated to mine hunting. A live demonstration in Toulon area has been conducted in order to show some of the amazing performances of this new maritime drone that is completing ECA Group’s AUV family.

AUV A18-M: compact, modular, connected and enduring
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is the new generation of autonomous underwater vehicle developed by ECA Group for efficient mine detection and classification in all water depths up to 300m. Like the
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and
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, the AUV A18-M is specifically designed to operate in the close vicinity of the smartest mines without triggering them.

“This mid-size AUV is the top trade-off between, size, weight and long endurance. Its payload capacity makes it able to host high performance sonar, such as synthetic aperture sonar (SAS) providing unprecedented detection and classification performances.” says Léonie Delacou, AUVs product manager at ECA Group.
More compact than previous generation of MCM AUV,
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is easy to deploy even from small naval platforms such as new generation of
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. Thanks to its high stability, and the fact that it is less affected by waves than a surface ship or a towed system, a very high image quality is obtained.

In addition, the AUV A18-M can also adapt its operating depth to the environmental conditions, avoiding blind zones due to sound speed stratification.

Advanced embedded processing allows to process in real time the sonar image raw data and extract a list of contacts which are relayed back to the command center using an advanced communication network, with an unmanned surface vessel (USV) or an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) acting as gateway. These contacts are then reviewed by sonar operators onboard a mothership or onshore, in order to launch identification and disposal.

An unequaled performance gains with a Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) onboard A18-M
More generally, the AUV is able also to detect any kind of hazard such as improvised explosive devices (IED), pollutants, as well as to provide very accurate maps of the seabed which allow the environment to be assessed with high fidelity.

The AUV
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integrates the Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) and has very high area coverage rate, of the order of 2km2/hr which represents between 5 and 10 times more than that of a conventional side-looking sonar on an AUV. This optimal configuration enables to cover very large areas – of the order 20-40km2 (depending on transit distance)in a fraction of the time of legacy assets, with far superior image quality, and with reduced risk to personnel.

“The performance gain is due to the very high resolution in both range and cross-range offered by a wideband SAS, of the order of 2.5cm x 3cm constant up to the edges of the swath, which is unachievable, at any practical range, by any other type of sonar on any type of platform. With the only possible exception of buried or concealed mines, all known mines can be detected and high quality classification cues can be extracted from the highlight and shadow structure.” says Dr. Marc Pinto Program Director for Systems of Robots and sonar expert at ECA Group.

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something for Western fanbois
:
Dutch naval ships will not take part in Atalanta in 2018
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Dutch naval vessels will not participate in the European Union’s counter-piracy operation Atalanta off the coast of Somalia this year.

This was stated in a letter sent by Ank Bijleveld-Schouten, the country’s Minister of Defense, to the lower house of the Dutch parliament on March 7.

Problems with the patrol vessels, personnel shortages and other NATO obligations are mentioned as reasons, according to the Royal Netherlands Navy.

The Netherlands has been deploying naval vessels since 2009 as part of the European Union’s mission to prevent piracy and armed robbery off the Horn of Africa.

The European Union Naval Force (Op Atalanta) Somalia – Operation Atalanta, was launched in December 2008. Its objectives are protecting vessels of the World Food Programme (WFP) and other vulnerable shipping, determent and disruption of piracy and armed robbery at sea and monitoring fishing activities off Somalia.
 
it's a quite interesting summary:
Eurofighter Typhoon by the numbers more to come?
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As the European defense industry looks towards a manned Future Combat Air System (FCAS) as a potential all-new fighter for the 2040-era, its worth considering how the success of the Eurofighter program can help build confidence. A four-nation European partnership was the only way that such a costly project could be realised, and although initial production numbers were cut, it ultimately delivered a large fleet of common aircraft.

For the statisticians out there, here are the details of that fleet. Eurofighter Typhoon production totals have always been a little confusing. Our free Typhoon supplement in our current April issue sets the details out loud and clear.

Typhoons have been built in three Tranches (production batches) to date. This does not include the Development Aircraft.

Tranche 1 consisted of 148 aircraft: 33 for Germany, 28 for Italy, 19 for Spain and 53 for the UK, plus 15 for Austria.

Tranche 2 was for 299 aircraft: 79 for Germany, 47 for Italy, 34 for Spain and 67 for the UK, plus 72 for Saudi Arabia.

Tranche 3A was signed on July 31, 2009, for 112 aircraft. This divided up as 31 for Germany, 21 for Italy, 20 for Spain and 40 for the UK.

Tranche 3B has never been signed. Export orders for Oman (12 aircraft), Kuwait (28) and Qatar (24) take overall production to 623 aircraft.

That gives: UK (160), Germany (143), Italy (96), Spain (73), Austria (15), Saudi Arabia (72), Oman (12), Kuwait (28), Qatar (24).
what I of course missed was the money figure hahaha
 
cross-posting from
Aircraft Carriers III
:

180317-N-FK070-0120.JPG

180317-N-FK070-0120 ATLANTIC OCEAN (March 17, 2018) Finnish Air Force Capt. Juha Jarvinen lands an F/A-18C Hornet assigned to the Sharpshooters of Marine Strike Fighter Training Squadron (VMFAT) 101 on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72). This marks the first time a Finnish pilot has performed an arrested landing aboard an aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Brian M. Wilbur/Released)
First For Finland: Lincoln Welcomes Partner Nation Pilot
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according to DefenseNews F-35, submarine programs on track for Norway
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Norway’s procurement of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter and new high-end submarines is on track, and the government is working to induct both new systems, Norway’s top defense official said Tuesday.

Norwegian Defence Minister Frank Bakke-Jensen told Defense News that he sees no problems ahead for either program, which, along with the planned procurement of the
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, constitute a major modernization of Norway’s military equipment.

Specific to the submarines, the minister said there were no concerns over the decision to pick the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems 212A-class design, despite the fact the German fleet of similar design was
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due to bottlenecks in the procurement of spare parts and an accident to one boat that happened off the coast of Norway.

“We also have some knowledge about submarines, so we think this will be a good project, building the new submarines with Germany. We also are looking for more partners to see if some more countries could participate,” Bakke-Jensen said of the program, which was
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. “So I think this is a good project so far.”

Norway intends to buy 52 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets to replace its current inventory of 56 F-16 Fighting Falcons, which it will phase out
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.

Meanwhile, the country plans to have its four new submarines ready to go by the mid-2020s, while also
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in the 2022-2023 time frame.

That means Norway’s military will have a very busy few years in the early part of the next decade — something for which Bakke-Jensen said his ministry is trying to plan.

“It’s challenging to change systems, of course. We are also changing the military system, the education system at the same time to cope with the changing and the new technology and the new jobs,” he said. “We think we have a very good plan. We think it’s important to stick to the plan.

“I think we will cope with it. But every time when you change existing systems you will have a dip in operational readiness, but not more than we can cope with.”

The minister said his team is working on timing to avoid that “dip” hitting all at once, adding that “we can assure that we can do the mission we’re supposed to do … we will time it and cope with it. That’s possible.”
 

TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
F-35, submarine programs on track for Norway
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  1 day ago

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, constitute a major modernization of Norway’s military equipment.

Specific to the submarines, the minister said there were no concerns over the decision to pick the ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems 212A-class design, despite the fact the German fleet of similar design was
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due to bottlenecks in the procurement of spare parts and an accident to one boat that happened off the coast of Norway.

“We also have some knowledge about submarines, so we think this will be a good project, building the new submarines with Germany. We also are looking for more partners to see if some more countries could participate,” Bakke-Jensen said of the program, which was
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. “So I think this is a good project so far.”
Norway intends to buy 52 F-35A conventional takeoff and landing jets to replace its current inventory of 56 F-16 Fighting Falcons, which it will phase out
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.

Meanwhile, the country plans to have its four new submarines ready to go by the mid-2020s, while also
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in the 2022-2023 time frame.

CZGHGT4B6NHEPPGQYIEKIGZNQE.png

A sketch of the 212CD design, which Norway has decided to procure. (TKMS via Norwegian Ministry of Defence)
That means Norway’s military will have a very busy few years in the early part of the next decade — something for which Bakke-Jensen said his ministry is trying to plan.

“It’s challenging to change systems, of course. We are also changing the military system, the education system at the same time to cope with the changing and the new technology and the new jobs,” he said. “We think we have a very good plan. We think it’s important to stick to the plan.

“I think we will cope with it. But every time when you change existing systems you will have a dip in operational readiness, but not more than we can cope with.”

The minister said his team is working on timing to avoid that “dip” hitting all at once, adding that “we can assure that we can do the mission we’re supposed to do … we will time it and cope with it. That’s possible.”
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Switzerland names contenders in $8 billion ‘Air 2030’ program
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  5 hours ago
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Switzerland's existing fleet of decades-old F-5 jets is considered too outdated to defend its skies and repel intruders. (Joe Klamar/AFP via Getty Images)

COLOGNE, Germany — Swiss officials have unveiled details of their envisioned reboot of the country’s
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, setting the stage for purchases of aircraft and ground-based missiles totaling more than $8 billion.

The head of Switzerland’s defense and civilian protection department, Guy Parmelin, on Friday unveiled a list of requirements for the “Air 2030” program that the
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wants to begin fulfilling in the mid-2020s to defend its skies and repel intruders.

The existing fleet of decades-old F/A-18 and F-5 jets is considered too outdated for the task.

New aircraft under consideration include the Airbus Eurofighter, Dassault's Rafale, Saab's Gripen, the F/A-18 Super Hornet from Boeing and Lockheed Martin's F-35A, according to the March 23 list of requirements published by the defense department.



Ground-based weapons on the short list are the Eurosam consortium’s SAMP/T system; the David’s Sling missile shield from Israel; and Raytheon’s Patriot system. Swiss officials want to protect an area of 15,000 square kilometers with ground-based weapons, which is more than one-third of the country. They also seek to intercept targets up to 12 kilometers high and 50 kilometers away.

The envisioned concept of operations dictates that a fleet of roughly 40 aircraft will intercept those targets outside of the ground weapons’ range. Officials want enough capacity to have four planes in the air at any given time during crises.

Request for proposals for an acquisition program are expected to be published in the summer, Renato Kalbermatten, a spokesman for the defense department, told Defense News in an email Tuesday.

Before a referendum is held about the project in the first half of 2020, ministry officials want to finish qualification of all potential vendors. That includes studying the data from a first round of proposals and collecting final offers from those still in the running at that time, according to Kalbermatten.

Referendums are a key tool of the Swiss political process. Asked by a Swiss news agency this month if the country would still have an air force if the population voted against spending money on Air 2030, Parmelin responded dryly: “That’s policymaking in Switzerland.”

The Swiss won’t be asked which type of aircraft the country should buy, only about the program as a whole. Government analysts would then decide which system is best suited for the task, Parmelin said.

A 2014 plebiscite saw the acquisition of Sweden’s Gripen defeated, a rare outcome for a referendum on security policy matters, Swiss national broadcaster SRF commented at the time.

Notably, Germany’s future TLVS air and missile defense system, a development based on the trinational Medium Extended Air Defense System, is missing from the lineup of candidate ground-based weapons. That is because the Swiss consider that system suitable only for short and medium ranges, according to Kalbermatten.

“As Switzerland has not had a defense system for long ranges since 1999, the first goal is buying a long-range system,” he wrote.

Exactly how much money will go to aircraft purchases and how much to ground weapons will depend on the interplay between the two program components ultimately picked, according to officials. However, previous estimates assume that $6 billion or $7 billion would be spent on planes.

Winning bidders must agree to arrange for 100 percent of the program cost to flow back into the Swiss economy through so-called offset agreements. Those can be negotiated after final contracts are signed, according to the defense department.

The government is looking for aircraft and missile hardware as is, meaning few to no “Helvetizations,” or Swiss-specific tweaks, would be made to the weapons, the new requirements document states. The ministry wants to purchase a single plane type under a “one-fleet policy.”
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Poland’s aircraft deal with Leonardo secures independent training capacity
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  7 hours ago
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worth more than €115 million (U.S. $143 million) to
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from Italy’s Leonardo, with an option to purchase an additional four aircraft.

Under the plan, deliveries of the aircraft are to be completed by the end of October 2020.

“The Italian jet trainers will be mostly used in Poland to train candidates for F-16 aircraft pilots, and the [Polish] Air Force will acquire autonomy in the training process,” the ministry said in a statement.

The country’s Air Force operates a fleet of 48 F-16C/D Block 52+ fighters.

Leonardo said in a statement that the latest deal “builds on Leonardo’s significant footprint in Poland where it has 3,000 highly-skilled employees at its PZL helicopter site in Świdnik.”

The jet trainers will be supplied along with a logistics package and seven simulators, according to the ministry.

In February 2014, Poland signed a contract worth 1.167 billion zloty (U.S. $343 million) to acquire eight M-346s with related logistic support, a training program for pilots and engineers, and a ground-based training system. Deliveries of the eight aircraft were completed in late 2017.
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TerraN_EmpirE

Tyrant King
Italy plans to spend $951M on 20 surveillance drones
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  3 hours ago
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a new surveillance drone based on a business aircraft design. The UAV will offer 24-hour endurance and have a top speed of 330 knots.

Italy’s Ministry of Defence last month sent an acquisition request to Parliament’s defense commission for 20 Piaggio Aerospace P.2HH drones,
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of €766 million (U.S. $951 million).

The platform, dubbed the HammerHead, is an unmanned variant of the Piaggio Aerospace P180 business aircraft, which flies with two pusher propellers.

The request is the latest episode in the drawn-out development phase of the medium-altitude, long-endurance UAV, which has been punctuated by
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and the planned sale of Piaggio Aerospace’s civil activity to a Chinese-backed fund.
The request to Parliament describes the purchase of 10 piloting stations and 20 aircraft, which will be able to fly at 45,000 feet, carrying out intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance missions.

The aircraft would be able to land at regular airports, fly in all weather conditions, and operate day and night in segregated and nonsegregated airspace.

With funding annually doled out until the completion of the program in 2032, the aircraft will be built at Piaggio Aerospace’s facility at Villanova di Albenga in Italy. The program has previously received funding thanks to Italy’s 808 law, which covers research funding for new defense technology.

The parliamentary commission did not vote on the request since it arrived too close to Italy’s March 4 election, which saw the country’s incumbent center-left government defeated, with no clear winner emerging. Talks will now be held in April to find a coalition government.

But in the meantime, Italy’s Defence Ministry is set to push on with the program since the opinion sought was nonbinding, according to the head of the commission, Francesco Saverio Garofani.

Despite its Italian origins, Piaggio Aerospace has been controlled since 2014 by Mubadala Development Company, a strategic investment and development firm in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

In 2015, the firm said the Italian Air Force would be the launch customer for a smaller version of the P.2HH, known as the P.1HH, which appeared at the Paris Air Show that year sporting Italian Air Force colors. The company’s CEO at the time said the UAV could also serve to
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known as the EuroMALE was launched.

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The HammerHead drone is an unmanned variant of the Piaggio Aerospace P.180 business aircraft, shown here. (Piaggio Aerospace)
Test flights were carried out with the support of the Italian Air Force; but before any Italian deal was announced, the
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to sign a €316 million deal in March 2016 to buy eight of the smaller P.1HH aircraft.

Then, in May 2016, the firm’s initial prototype
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, reportedly due to problems with the integration of the flight-control system. Test flights resumed in July 2017, and a spokesman said this month that the UAE would receive its first aircraft by year’s end, with all eight delivered by the end of 2019.

Meanwhile, Italy is now eyeing the larger version of the UAV known as the P.2HH, which offers longer endurance.

“The development of a new version of the UAV, which [is] more advanced and which offers greater performance, is one of the growth objectives of our firm,” said Renato Vaghi, CEO of Piaggio Aerospace. “So we are following with interest the legislative process that envisages the provision of funding by the Italian government for its development and acquisition.”

However, Italy is yet to place an order, three years after Piaggio Aerospace first said it would be the launch customer. If Italy’s plan was to buy the HammerHead as a gap filler ahead of the introduction of the EuroMALE, that gap is now getting smaller.
Meanwhile, Piaggio Aerospace’s Gulf owners starting planning last year to sell off parts of the firm’s civil activity, starting with its engine maintenance operation. More ambitious were plans to sell the intellectual property rights to the design of the P.180 business aircraft, which prompted the Italian government to invoke its so-called Golden Power legislation, which allows it to control the sale of strategic Italian industries.

Issued in October 2017, a government decree gave the government authority to ensure that during any sale, a firewall was created between military activity on the UAV and civil work on the P.180.

Mubadala began talks with a Luxembourg-based fund called Pac Investments, which is managed by Giuliano Felten, a former commercial director at Piaggio Aerospace.

In a recent interview with Italian media, Vaghi said the talks with Pac Investments might lead to the opening of a production line for the P.180 in China as well as marketing of the aircraft in the country.
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Jeff Head

General
Registered Member
it's a quite interesting summary:
Eurofighter Typhoon by the numbers more to come?
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what I of course missed was the money figure hahaha
Yes the Typhoo/Euro-fighter has been a great success.

Of course the French went their own way with the Rafael, also a most xcellent aircraft.

They are building 180 for France, ultimately about 60 M versions for the French Navy and 120 B/C berions for the French Air Force.

And then
36 for Egypt
36 for Qatar
36 for INdia...with potentially more for INdia including a potential for the M version for thier CATOBAR carrier.

A total of at least 252 aircraft.
 
kinda cool
Yes, Switzerland would enjoy a jet that can land in its secret base
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Somewhere in Switzerland inside a mountain, there is a secret air base in which a Swiss Air Force pilot fires up the engines of an F/A-18 Hornet, the camouflaged doors slide open and the fighter jet takes off.

The pilot flies an air patrol, returns and lands just outside the base. A crane rotates the F/A-18 and places the fighter on a platform, which brings the plane back into military silence under the mountain. The stealthy doors close until the next flight.

Swiss soldiers have occasionally referred to the base on social media and have been asked to delete their mention. As a senior Swiss officer told Defense News on March 27, the name and location of the base are classified information.

That air base may evoke a James Bond film, but the Swiss Armed Forces operate the site as part of its national air defense, which is entering a characteristically large modernization drive.

Asked whether the
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as part of the drive sets a
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to be able to enter that base, the officer said it was not essential but would be nice to have.

The Air Force will arm the new fighter with air-to-air missiles, as the main mission is to secure Swiss airspace. There is merely “discussion” of arming the jet with air-to-ground missiles, as that capability is politically sensitive in Switzerland and would add to the cost of acquisition.

The 30-strong fleet of F/A-18s is armed with AMRAAM and AIM-9X Sidewinder missiles and a cannon. The Air Force plans to fly the F/A-18 until 2030 and operate the new aircraft alongside its existing fleet.

The Air Force flies the F-5 Tiger as the aggressor during exercises with the F/A-18, and the single-engine jet also makes up the Patrouille Swiss air display team. The 26-strong fleet of F-5s no longer flies air patrol.

The Air Force has started to consider a new training course tied to acquiring the new fighter, said Col. Simone Rossi, who runs the training center at the air base here. Only full-time professional pilots fly the F/A-18 — not part-time reservists.

The latter are called up for national service and are then recalled each year to serve three weeks as reservists.

There are some 3,000 professional personnel, while the rest of the approximately 100,000-strong Armed Forces are made up of conscripts and part-time reservists. Swiss forces effectively operate a citizen-soldier army, where each reservist must keep a Sieg automatic rifle and empty magazine clips at home, along with battledress, bulletproof vest, two pairs of boots and a gas mask. The reservists are expected to regularly attend shooting practice at the local gun clubs.

The military rations include a Swiss Army chocolate bar, wrapped in the national colors of red and white.

A Swiss modernization drive seeks to field a better-equipped and better-trained force, but fewer in number than in the past.

The short list for the Swiss competition comprises the Airbus Eurofighter,
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, the Saab Gripen, the Boeing F/A-18 Super Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-35A.

Train fares and accommodation were paid for by Presence Switzerland, part of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
 
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