{"id":65769,"date":"2026-05-15T09:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/65769\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T09:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T09:11:11","slug":"swiss-army-combines-horses-and-high-tech-drones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/65769\/","title":{"rendered":"Swiss Army combines horses and high-tech drones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/p>\n

Old and new tech: Swiss horse patrols are experimenting with the use of surveillance drones. <\/p>\n

SRF \/ Mario Gutknecht <\/p>\n

Horses have always been used by the Swiss Army. Now the animals are being combined with the latest technology \u2013 drones.\n<\/p>\n

This content was published on <\/p>\n

May 15, 2026 – 11:00\n<\/p>\n

Today, drones \u2013 like horses in the past \u2013 are part of warfare. A small group of recruits is now learning to use both in a special training programme by the Swiss army. Their job: to monitor terrain as mounted patrols.<\/p>\n

The interaction between animal and drone has to be practised. All new things are initially frightening for a horse, so it must first get used to the drone, says a young recruit who is simulating a reconnaissance mission with a colleague at the edge of a forest.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Horses are mainly used to monitor areas which are rather inaccessible. Drones can widen their range. <\/p>\n

SRF <\/p>\n

The Swiss army has long used horses. At the highpoint a century ago, it had tens of thousands of them. Today, the number is only 300, and they are mainly used for monitoring purposes, such as at large sites which host critical infrastructure. Zurich airport, where there are few paths around the runway, is one such example.<\/p>\n

\"Two<\/p>\n

The Swiss Army still uses horses today, and around 16 recruits are trained for this purpose every year. <\/p>\n

SRF \/ Mario Gutknecht <\/p>\n

\u201cThe horse can move faster than a foot patrol,\u201d says Commander Kim Sch\u00e4tti, who is responsible for the army\u2019s animals. Horses can react quickly and relatively silently in difficult and rough terrain.<\/p>\n

\n More<\/p>\n

\"Swiss<\/p>\n

More <\/p>\n

Swiss Politics\n <\/p>\n

Why Switzerland is struggling with its national defence\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\n

This content was published on <\/p>\n

Feb 26, 2026 <\/p>\n

Switzerland\u2019s neighbours increasingly see the country\u00a0as\u00a0a potential weak link in\u00a0European security.\u00a0But at home defence\u00a0is hardly a priority on the political agenda.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Read more: Why Switzerland is struggling with its national defence\u00a0\u00a0
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Drones, by contrast, are a relatively new technology. They allow soldiers to monitor terrain at night. The drones are equipped with thermal imaging cameras, making it possible to detect people and animals \u2013 who are warmer than their surroundings \u2013 in the dark.<\/p>\n

Around half of the army\u2019s horses are housed in the Bern area, including in Sch\u00f6nb\u00fchl, where riders and horses are trained.<\/p>\n

\"Thermal<\/p>\n

Surveillance can also be carried out at night using thermal imaging cameras. <\/p>\n

SRF <\/p>\n

\u201cHorses can provide a service that no one else can,\u201d says Sch\u00e4tti. The drone is an ideal addition \u2013 the combination is better than a helicopter. It makes operations more flexible and allows several locations to be monitored at the same time. Mounted patrols can therefore be deployed over a wide area.<\/p>\n

Around 16 young soldiers are trained as mounted patrols during each Swiss recruit school.<\/p>\n

The Swiss Army needs money \u2013 but this is proving hard to come by. We discussed why in our Let\u2019s Talk podcast:<\/p>\n

Translated from German using AI\/amva<\/p>\n

How we translate with AI<\/p>\n

We use automatic translation tools, such as\u00a0DeepL\u00a0and Google Translate, for some content.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each translated article is carefully reviewed by\u00a0a journalist\u00a0for accuracy. Using translation tools gives us the time\u00a0for\u00a0more in-depth articles.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Learn more\u00a0here\u00a0<\/a>about how we work with AI.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Articles in this story <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Old and new tech: Swiss horse patrols are experimenting with the use of surveillance drones. SRF \/ Mario…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":65770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[101,3931,5608,3368,9095,22825,17507,460,103,41,17,4140,16412],"class_list":{"0":"post-65769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-switzerland","8":"tag-article","9":"tag-beat-best-of-srg-content","10":"tag-beat-war-peace","11":"tag-conflict","12":"tag-defence","13":"tag-kpi-srg-curation-geopolitics","14":"tag-military-equipment","15":"tag-multi","16":"tag-production-type-deepl-autotranslation","17":"tag-swiss","18":"tag-switzerland","19":"tag-war","20":"tag-weaponry"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/116577821497241285","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=65769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/65770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=65769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=65769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=65769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}