The Swiss armed forces have announced they want to shut down around a third of their infrastructure, including military training areas, airports and secret facilities to cut rental charges, operational costs and maintenance.
The airbase in Sion, canton Valais, and the mothballed airfield in Buochs, canton Nidwalden, will be shuttered, while the military airport in Dübendorf near Zurich will only be used as a helicopter base in the future, according to the concept presented on Tuesday by Defence Minister Ueli Maurer and the chief of the armed forces, André Blattmann.
The army also plans to close down «a range of» classified underground facilities all over the country, while five training areas in the southwest and three firing ranges will also be affected by the cuts.
«We are cutting back in those areas where there is less demand – primarily in the deployment and the logistics infrastructure,» Maurer said at a press conference. He cited underground facilities as an example because they are no longer necessary.
Parliament decided in September 2011 to reduce the number of staff to 100,000 and to cut annual spending to CHF5 billion ($5.5 billion) by 2016.
The cost cuts particularly affect properties because of their high upkeep and the investments needed to keep them functional.
The proposed closures would lead to about 300 job cuts over several years and the army would have to move some staff to other sites. Maurer said the cuts would affect training programmes to a lesser extent.
The cantons will now have until the end of January 2014 to comment on the proposed closures.