Another information event on the Taskforce Drones
On Friday, 28 February 2025, the Taskforce Drones, under the direction of armasuisse Science and Technology (S+T), extended an invitation to the second information event. More than 120 interested participants, primarily from Swiss industry, gathered together in Bern. The focus was on topics such as information on the current status of the Taskforce Drones, export controls and public procurement law.
Moana Häfeli, Staff, armasuisse Science and Technology
In brief
The information event enabled representatives from Swiss industry to gain information about cooperation with the public sector. Technical experts from armasuisse and the SECO presented topics such as the status of the Taskforce Drones, public procurement law and export controls. The exchange between the participants as well as the Taskforce Drones and the high number of participants confirmed the interest of Swiss industry in the Taskforce Drones projects.
An initial exchange on the «Taskforce Drones» between the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse, representatives from Swiss industry and the DDPS took place in July 2024. The meeting , which was held in the form of a round table, offered the opportunity to gain information on the then newly founded Taskforce Drones and to discuss ideas for solutions, feedback and proposals from industry in an open dialogue. The goal of last week’s information event for industry was to elucidate the current status of the Taskforce Drones as well as important points in the cooperation with the public sector, such as public procurement law and export controls.
Information on the Taskforce Drones
At 9 a.m. on the dot, Kai Holtmann, Managing Director of the Taskforce Drones, welcomed those present and thus opened the event. At the beginning of the event, more than 120 participants from Swiss industry were informed about the initial situation as well as the latest status of the Taskforce Drones. Kai Holtmann referred to the growing importance of drones in modern conflicts, the international dependency of drone components as well as the rapid development in the area of drone technology. He went on to emphasise that it is now time to use the excellent technological drone ecosystem in Switzerland to attain the goals of the Taskforce Drones. At the same time, he formulated two clear objectives – building up the skills for deploying drones in the Armed Forces and producing drone solutions in Switzerland to the fullest possible extent.
To be able to implement these objectives quickly and successfully, the current projects of the Taskforce Drones are concentrating on four focus topics – improvised attack drones, swarming, a carrier platform and a Swiss nano/micro-multipurpose drone. It should be noted that this list is not conclusive. The Taskforce Drones also wants to use the existing potential of the Security-relevant Technology and Industry Base (STIB) in the area of drones, says Kai Holtmann. Decisive criteria for cooperation with the public sector were then clarified and substantiated by the Managing Director of the Taskforce Drones. At the end of the presentation, he emphasised that establishing a drone ecosystem in Switzerland is of particularly great interest.
The Taskforce Drones was launched in June 2024. The goal of the Taskforce is to accelerate the Armed Forces’ skill building in the field of drones, as well as to develop new skills and use the potential of the Swiss Security-relevant Technology and Industry Base in the area of drones. One particular focus of the Taskforce Drones will be on ensuring that implementation in Switzerland is as self-sufficient as possible.
The procurement process – the legal foundations, criteria and procedures of public procurement
Larissa Fankhauser, legal expert from armasuisse Procurement, explained the basic principles of procurement and the complexity of procurement in the public sector from the legal perspective to the participants. The focus was on the various different award procedures. Altogether, there are four types of award in public procurement law. Open procedures, selective procedures, invitation procedures and freehand procedures in terms of a direct award. Which procedure is applied for a specific procurement also depends, in addition to the qualification of the contract type, on the value of the contract. Certain threshold values apply.
Service and delivery contracts up to a value of CHF 150,000 can thus be awarded directly. With a contract volume of up to CHF 230,000, the invitation procedure is the ordinary procedure, whereby at least three offers must be obtained where possible. When service and delivery contracts above CHF 230,000 are awarded, this is always published publicly on the platform for invitations to tender simap.ch. Essential for the award of defence equipment and services for defence and security, the invitation procedure always applies, regardless of the threshold value. Finally, Larissa Fankhauser drew the attention of those present to potential stumbling blocks when submitting offers, such as incomplete offers, the failure to meet deadlines and permissible as well as inadmissible prior involvement.
Export controls: Determination and procedures in export
In the last content-related programme item of the day, representatives from SECO explained why export controls are stipulated and which role the existing export control regimes play here. In particular, the various different specifications for export under the Goods Control and Defence Equipment legislation as well as the classification of defence equipment and dual-use goods were described.
Conclusion and outlook
The event of last Friday was dominated by the exchange of information for and with industry. The high level of interest in the Taskforce Drones was underscored by the 120 attendees and the lively discussions after the presentations. The format enabled open dialogue and supports the continuous development of the Taskforce Drones.