But if Switzerland can't afford enough pilots and material to run a twenty-four hour airforce, does it matter that it's a cost issue that prevents them from running a 24 hour airforce? I mean, will Switzerland be running a top quality defensive air force from 2021 or will they be running two thirds of a top quality defensive air force? Is Switzerland able to afford it?

Far from defending Switzerland against the charge of running a half rate airforce, you raise legitimate concerns. If I wanted to invade a country, I probably wouldn't pick Switzerland. But if I wanted to invade Switzerland, being unable to afford an airforce in a time of wealth is awfully encouraging.

It's not "can't afford". It's "as a landlocked country surrounded by allies with whom it has extensive defence agreements, it can't justify spending the money it takes to run its airforce at full capacity."

From a financial perspective, Switzerland could definitely afford a larger military force (defence expenditure is around 0.6% of the GDP, as a comparison the NATO sets the guideline to 2% of the GDP [Note: Switzerland is not part of the NATO, but it is a useful comparison to neighboring countries]).

The question is solely political, how much money is Switzerland willing to spend for an army/airforce? And this question undoubtedly correlates with the current feeling of safety and threat of conflict.

Anyone that would be interested in invading Switzerland has to go through an aweful lot of other countries first. Or do you really believe Switzerland needs to be ready to defend against France, Germany, Italy, Austria or Lichtenstein?

There simply is currently no conceivable threat scenario that needs to be countered.

First of all, the exactly same reasoning was used after the horrors of WWI, when everyone believed another European war will never be repeated, with known results on the readiness of the Swiss Army at the beginning of WWII.

Second, conflicts are on a gradient, from scattered terrorist attacks to a full on military invasion, there is a lot in between.

The statement that there is no conceivable threat scenario is ridiculous.

So what kind of threat scenarios do you have in mind?

A few years ago, Switzerland did have a war game on a French invasion scenario.

> Currently, the times have been extended from 6am to 10pm

That should be more than enough. It's not like anybody ever launched a war at 5:45 AM…

https://en.metapedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler%27s_speech_to_the...