For most of us, Switzerland is primarily associated with banks and the financial system, cheese and watches. Most of the associations are absolutely peaceful, even the famous Swiss knife is a purely practical invention. And the country itself, which has achieved a high standard of living for its citizens and is proud of its neutrality, is perceived today as one of the most peaceful European states that are not members of any military blocs or alliances. Having happily escaped participation in two world wars of the last century, Switzerland has preserved and increased its industrial and economic potential. At the same time, despite all its peacefulness, the country has a defense industry, which in some respects is at a high world level.
Switzerland's defense industry is lost against a backdrop of alpine meadows and valleys framed by high mountains and peacefully grazing cows. However, according to the CAST, in 2015 Switzerland exported various weapons worth $ 1.7 billion, which amounted to 1.8 percent of all arms shipments globally. In the top 100 of the world's largest companies in the military-industrial complex, at least two large Swiss companies, the military-industrial concern RUAG and the aircraft building company Pilatus Aircraft, were included in different years.
The small country, most of which is mountainous, has its own aviation industry. Today, under the Pilatus brand, small turboprop multipurpose aircraft PC-12 are produced, which can also be found in Russia, where they are used for interregional flights as a small air taxi. The company's lineup also includes PC-21 training aircraft, which are used by the Air Forces of Singapore, Switzerland, Australia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. On the basis of this model, light attack aircraft have also been developed, which can be used as anti-partisan ones. But if it was possible to establish the production of its own aircraft (there were even attempts to create a jet fighter for its Air Force) in Switzerland, then somehow it did not work with armored vehicles of its own production. Historically, Germany and Sweden were the main suppliers of armored vehicles for the Swiss army. Currently, all the main battle tanks of the Swiss ground forces are German Leopard 2 (134 vehicles), and all infantry fighting vehicles are Swedish CV 9030 and 9030CP (154 + 32 vehicles).
At the same time, at different stages of its history, Switzerland tried to develop its own samples of armored vehicles. For example, the most famous design for a Swiss main battle tank is the Neuer Kampfpanzer (NKPz). This tank in the 1980s, if the project had been completed, would definitely not have been lost on the world arms market, but the Swiss military decided to save money and not try their luck, preferring the already proven German tank. An example of an original approach to the creation of an infantry fighting vehicle is the experienced Mowag Tornado BMP, which was an initiative development of the Swiss company Mowag.
It is also important to understand that this project was not without the influence of neighbors. The Swiss company Mowag was directly involved in the development of the German Marder infantry fighting vehicle, which was considered very successful. At the time of its creation, the German "Marten" was the most protected vehicle of its class and was distinguished by a very good speed of movement over rough terrain, easily keeping up with the Leopard tanks. These vehicles continued to be in service with the Bundeswehr until 2010. The Swiss company Mowag took part in their development until 1988. For example, the machine-gun mount, characteristic of the Marder BMP, placed in the rear of the vehicle, was the development of the Swiss specialists; they wanted to install two such remote-controlled aft machine guns on their own BMP at once. The Swiss actually transferred some elements of the Marten into their Tornado infantry fighting vehicle, which, however, remained in the status of an experimental development.
The Mowag Tornado infantry fighting vehicle was developed in the second half of the 1960s. The first prototype was completed in 1968. Since Swiss specialists participated in the development of the German Marder BMP, the vehicles were very similar even in appearance, while the Swiss BMP was also created taking into account all the tactical and technical requirements that were imposed on this type of armored vehicle by NATO countries. The layout of the vehicle was traditional, in the front part, the designers located the engine compartment (shifted to the right), the fighting compartment was located in the middle of the hull, and the troop compartment, which could accommodate up to 7 infantrymen, was located in the stern, the crew of the armored vehicle consisted of three people. In the stern of the BMP, a folding ramp was located, which served to enter and exit the paratroopers from the car, they could also use the four hatches located in the roof of the troop compartment. It was possible to fire an assault force without leaving the combat vehicle; for this, on each side, there were two embrasures for small arms in the sides of the troop compartment.
The hull of the Swiss BMP was fully welded. In the front left side was the driver's seat, behind him was the BMP commander. The body armor reliably protected the paratroopers, the crew and important components and assemblies of the combat vehicle from bullets and fragments of shells and mines, as well as from small-caliber shells. In the frontal projection, the armor provided reliable protection against shelling by various ammunition of 20-25 mm caliber. The front armor plates (upper and lower), as well as the upper part of the side armor plates of the hull, were located at rational angles of inclination.
The heart of the Tornado infantry fighting vehicle was an eight-cylinder V-shaped diesel engine, which developed a power of 287 kW (390 hp), its power was enough to accelerate a combat vehicle weighing about 22 tons to a maximum speed of 66 km / h (when driving on highway). The fuel range did not exceed 400 km. The transmission, engine, and swing mechanism were designed in a single unit. The undercarriage of the Mowag Tornado BMP consisted of six medium-diameter road wheels (rubberized), three carrier rollers, drive (front) and guide (rear) wheels applied to each side. Traditionally, the suspension for this type of equipment was torsion bar; the first, second and sixth road wheels had hydraulic shock absorbers.
The highlight and main feature of the Swiss BMP was the variety of weapon options. Initially, the designers planned to place on the machine a 20-mm automatic cannon installed in a single-seat armored turret of circular rotation, as well as the Bantam ATGM (for them, there were special attachment points on the tower). This ATGM for its time was quite advanced, providing armor penetration at the level of 500 mm and a firing range of just over two kilometers. The machine gun armament of the BMP consisted of two 7, 62-mm machine guns with remote control, which were located in the rear of the hull on special pivot racks. As conceived by the developers, these machine guns could also be used for firing at air targets, the guidance angles in the vertical plane were from -15 to +60 degrees, and the horizontal guidance sector was limited to 230 degrees. The machine gun ammunition was quite impressive - 5 thousand rounds, it was planned to have 800 rounds for the 20-mm gun.
In 1975, Swiss engineers presented an even more interesting concept, installing on the same chassis a twin installation of 80 mm Oerlikon Contraves recoilless guns. The vertical guidance angles of the guns ranged from -10 to +20 degrees. High-explosive fragmentation or cumulative 80-mm rockets with folding stabilizers were used as the main ammunition. Another innovation was an automatic loader and a store power system, there were 8 rounds in the stores. Ammunition - 16 rounds per barrel. Shooting could be carried out both with single shots and with a burst, it was possible to release 8 shells with an initial speed of 710 m / s in just 1.7 seconds.
Unfortunately for the Swiss industry, the issue of adopting an infantry fighting vehicle of its own production was never resolved; in the end, the Swiss military chose the Swedish CV 9030SN infantry fighting vehicle. Despite a number of obvious advantages, Mowag Tornado could not find buyers on the international market, not least due to the rather high price. At the same time, the Mowag company did not abandon attempts to release its own BMP.
Already in the 1990s, Swiss designers presented the second version of their BMP, the novelty predictably received the designation Mowag Tornado-2 (after that, the first version automatically became Mowag Tornado-1). The new combat vehicle was distinguished by a more powerful engine, improved transmission, modern observation devices, and also received a combined sight that allows you to search for targets not only during the day, but also at night. The main armament of the updated BMP was planned to make the 25-mm automatic cannon Oerlikon Contraves, which was planned to be placed either in a turret armored carriage, or in a standard armored turret of circular rotation, modifications Mk.1 and Mk.2, respectively. Options were also considered to increase the combat capabilities of the novelty by placing a more powerful 35-mm automatic cannon and installing the Milan ATGM. At the same time, all versions of the BMP still retained two remote-controlled machine-gun mounts in the rear of the vehicle, which the Swiss designers, for some reason, could not refuse. But when this attempt did not lead to anything, the Mowag company completely concentrated on the development and production of wheeled military equipment, and the Mowag Tornado infantry fighting vehicle forever remained in history only in the form of a few prototypes released in different years.
In conclusion, we can say that Mowag was much more fortunate with wheeled military equipment. Currently, the Swiss army is armed with 443 MOWAG Eagle armored vehicles for various purposes with a 4x4 wheel arrangement. These machines have been serially produced since 2003. Swiss engineers have already released five generations of MOWAG Eagle combat reconnaissance vehicles, which are successfully sold for export. For example, Germany has about twice as many Eagle armored vehicles in service as Switzerland, and a large batch of armored vehicles (90 pieces) is in service with the Danish army.
