Mercury Systems has announced a collaboration with Lockheed Martin to manufacture computing technologies at its production site in Geneva, Switzerland.
The companies signed two initial engineering development agreements, a direct result of the offset program between Lockheed and the Swiss government following its purchase of F-35 II stealth fighter jets.
Switzerland’s Federal Office for Defence Procurement will transfer key security technologies such as software-defined radio capabilities and cryptology to support the production.
“We are thrilled to work with Lockheed Martin to bring the manufacture of cutting-edge defense technologies to Switzerland,” Mercury International Vice President and General Manager Paul Tanner said.
“These agreements will expand the Mercury Processing Platform and allow us to bring new, advanced capabilities to the European market,” he added.
Switzerland’s Modernization Plan
Aside from bolstering its tech capabilities, Switzerland is also promoting modernization steps in other areas of its military.
Since announcing a 2.1-billion-euro ($2.5 billion) investment for national defense in 2021, Bern has laid out plans to equip itself with state-of-the-art capabilities such as surveillance and kamikaze drones.
The country has also equipped itself with Lockheed’s Patriot Advanced Capability-3 missile systems.
Last year, despite an across-the-board 1.4 percent spending cut in all other government departments, the military proposed an increased defense budget of 25.8 billion francs ($28.7 billion) to counter security threats brought on by the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war.
