The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse updated the Offset Register with the figures at the end of 2023. The ongoing offset programmes for each procurement project, together with the foreign suppliers, their runtimes and the respective open offset obligations are listed in the Offset Register. In addition, the commissioned Swiss companies, the type of offset transactions (direct or indirect) as well as the regional linguistic distribution are shown. The Offset Register will no longer be updated and published every half-year, but on a quarterly basis from 2024.

The Register currently includes eighteen ongoing offset programmes with a total amount of CHF 5.14 billion. Of this, orders were placed with Swiss companies for around CHF 1.94 billion up to the end of 2023. Since the last update of the Offset Register, the offset obligations of the German supplier Mercedes-Benz Group AG in the projects “Lightweight motor vehicle with off-road capability” (CHF 291 million) and “Lightweight motor vehicle with off-road capability for specialist systems” (CHF 80 million) were terminated on time. They therefore no longer appear in the Offset Register.

Programme Air2030

The offset agreement between the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse and the US manufacturer Lockheed Martin for the guided missiles for enhanced capability of long-range ground-based air defence was signed in October 2023 and then included in the Offset Register at the end of 2023. The amount of the offset obligation and the runtime are the subject of further contract negotiations with the US government.

With the F-35A combat aircraft, the offset fulfilment is at around CHF 693 million at the end of 2023, which corresponds to around 27% of the offset obligation of Lockheed Martin. With the long-range ground-based air defence system Patriot, companies in Switzerland have so far received orders of around CHF 202 million, which corresponds to around 19% of the offset obligation of the US manufacturer Raytheon. Both offset obligations must be fulfilled by the end of 2034. By then, the following allocation keys must be complied with as far as possible between the regions: 65% of the recognised offset volume is attributable to German-speaking Switzerland, 30% to French-speaking Switzerland and 5% to Italian-speaking Switzerland. The fulfilment and the regional distribution will be continuously monitored by armasuisse and discussed with the supplier.

Banking Register

As a supplement to the Offset Register, the Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse has published a Banking Register for the first time. This will further improve external transparency, which was also a recommendation of the Council of States Control Committee in its report of 25 January 2022 on the controlling of offset transactions. The Banking Register contains seven ongoing banking agreements in which publication is planned. Foreign providers, the contract duration and the current credit balance are listed in the Banking Register. In addition, the commissioned Swiss companies and the regional distribution are also shown.

A banking agreement can be concluded upon the request of a foreign provider if a future offset obligation is likely. It enables foreign providers to fulfil up to 20% of a future offset obligation through indirect offset transactions in Switzerland in advance. Each “banked” offset transaction must usually be transferred within five years from the respective order date to an offset obligation or the respective credit balance will expire.

Current figures on offset transactions