I understand now better why my country (Switzerland) wants to purchase 30-ish of those for "National Skies Protection". It is well in line with their past strategies and accomplishments:
1) Provide a sky patrol, but on only on office hours (9 - 17).
2) Buy for 1B CHF worth of radar, that would unfortunately lock on cows pasturing.
3) Buy for 0.5B CHF worth of software, then discard it because it's incompatible.
They’re a neutral nation surrounded by countries which are at the moment friendly. Neutrality incentivizes them to stay armed and to do their patrols but Switzerland has no reason to expect a war from France, Germany or Italy anytime soon.
Switzerland would also be bombed flat in the event anyone dedicated enough to go to war with the world's bank actually did so.
This is where people would go "ah but [shelters, etc.]", but there would be nothing to leave the shelters to return to. The kind of opponent they would actually face in a conventional conflict is likely not a just one.
Well let’s say I do concede the point; it’s a good thing they are a neutral and armed nation with their own Diplomacy Corp and Intelligence surrounded by friendly nations.
I wasn't really arguing anything in particular I just think the [Swiss equivalent of a wehr-aboo, i.e. people who go on holiday to Switzerland and come back telling stories about how secure it is] don't understand the kind of opponent the Swiss might actually face.
it was subcontracted to france and italy. i think they now do provide this service 24/7 due to minor backlash. however, the time a jet is in the air, the "enemy " is already in another country.
We are well past that mentality here. Germans basically keep EU going not only financially which I consider a win overall for Europe despite its drawbacks.
Not another Versaille hanging over them to humiliate and keep the nation poor to piss off somebody down the line.
"Apparently it works in the plains but in the mountains, when for example a cow moves on the slopes, the radar identifies the animal as an enemy object", explained the Minister of Defense, Ueli Maurer.
to my knowledge, no cows have been hit by missiles so far.
I mean as a swiss person, your biggest industry (watches) exists almost entirely out of "it looks cool". Rich Militaries buy the F-35 because it's a cool toy, in the same way a rich businessman buys a Patel Phillipe. Not because he needs to tell time, but because he wants to have something fun to play with and look at when he has free time.
1) Provide a sky patrol, but on only on office hours (9 - 17).
2) Buy for 1B CHF worth of radar, that would unfortunately lock on cows pasturing.
3) Buy for 0.5B CHF worth of software, then discard it because it's incompatible.
4) etc, etc, etc ....