The Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO) has carried out a follow-up audit at the General Secretariat of the Federal Department of the Environment, Transport, Energy and Communications (GS-DETEC) and the General Secretariat of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (GS-DDPS) on the implementation of a key recommendation from 2017, which was a top priority-level recommendation (Prio A).
In its 2017 audit “Merging of civil and military air traffic control, Implementation and review”, the SFAO identified that Project HELCO was only a vision whose feasibility had not been thoroughly examined, in particular from a technical perspective, and regarding system compatibility. The desired efficiency gains were not achieved. A key weakness of the project was the inability to set up a common regulatory body. The SFAO identified differences of opinion between the civil and military authorities while implementing guidelines. This was particularly apparent in the civil use of military equipment. Clarification of the governance issues and resolution of the outstanding issues related to Project HELCO were called for in a recommendation. In the 2021 follow-up audit, the SFAO drew a mixed conclusion. The SFAO called on the federal authorities to improve cooperation on technical matters, data exchange and the approval of military equipment for civil purposes, and to set up the Military Aviation Authority (MAA).
As part of this follow-up, the implementation of the recommendation was audited once again. The recommendation has now been implemented. Challenges continue to exist, in particular regarding the complete independence of the MAA and the finalisation of implementation ordinances, but the key issues of the recommendation have been addressed. The legal basis that has been created, along with the structures and processes, form an important foundation for civil-military cooperation in aviation. The organisations involved have recognised the potential for future optimisations and now need to drive these forward together.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","audit_category":[48],"audit_type":[51],"class_list":["post-40179","audit","type-audit","status-publish","hentry","audit_category-transport-and-environment","audit_type-audit"],"acf":{"audit_lang":null,"audit_numbers":[{"audit_number":"25708"}],"audit_office":[23359,22776],"audit_office_text":"","audit_date":"20250901","bgo":false,"keywords":"","audit_office_local":"DETEC, DDPS"},"yoast_head":"\n