Switzerland issues a tender for new air defense missile system.

Switzerland has released a statement on the official website of the Swiss armed forces procurement agency regarding the purchase of a new air defense missile system. A request for bids was sent to three Companies including Eurosam from France, Rafael from Israel and Raytheon from United States.

Swiss Bloodhound BL-64 surface-to-air defense missile system (Picture source Internet)

A tender has been issued on September 21, 2018, to the Company Rafael for the David's Sling, to France for the Eurosam SAMP/T and to United States for the Patriot. All the Companies will have to send their offers by the end of March 2019.

The Swiss army defense procurement agency plans to perform evaluation of radar for each air defense missile system by the end of summer 2019 in Switzerland. Capabilities of other major components such as missiles and control systems will be analysis based on information received in Switzerland or provided by the manufacturer.

Currently, Swiss no longer have anti-aircraft missile systems since the retired of the Bloodhound in 1999, named BL-64 surface-to-air missile in the Swiss armed forces.

The David's Sling is an Israel Defense Forces military system being jointly developed by the Israeli defense contractor Rafael Advanced Defense Systems and the American defense contractor Raytheon, designed to intercept enemy planes, drones, tactical ballistic missiles, medium- to long-range rockets and cruise missiles, fired at ranges from 40 km (24.85 miles) to 300 km (186.41 miles) with speeds of up to mach 7.5.

The Patriot MIM-104 is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary of its kind used by the United States Army and several allied nations. Patriot uses an advanced aerial interceptor missile and high performance radar systems. The Patriot system is modular and highly mobile. A battery-sized element can be emplaced in less than 1 hour. Patriot systems have been sold to Egypt, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, South Korea, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates.

The PAC-3 MSE is the latest generation in the Patriot missile family, an evolution of the battle-proven PAC-3 Missile. The hit-to-kill PAC-3 MSE provides performance enhancements that counter evolving threat advancements. The enhancements ensure the PAC-3 Missile Segment of the PATRIOT Air Defense System is capable of engaging new and evolving threats. The hit-to-kill PAC-3 Missile is the world’s most advanced, and capable theater air defense missile and defender against the entire threat to the PATRIOT Air Defense System: Tactical Ballistic Missiles (TBMs) carrying weapons of mass destruction, evolving cruise missiles and aircraft.

The SAMP/T also called MAMBA in the French army is a theatre antimissile system designed to protect the battlefield and sensitive tactical sites (such as airports and sea ports) against all current and future airborne threats, including cruise missiles, manned and unmanned aircraft and tactical ballistic missiles in the 600 km range class. The SAMP/T is produced by Eurosam, a 50:50 joint venture between MBDA and Thales. Its key components are the Aster 30 interceptor and Arabel multi-function radar.

The maximum speed of Aster 30 missile is 1.4km/sec. Aster 30 has the capability to intercept targets at altitudes from 50 m to 20 km. against aircraft targets flying at altitudes above 3 km, the maximum range of the Aster 30 is 100 km. At aircraft targets with altitudes below 3 km, the range of Aster 30 is 50 km.