Air defence for Qatar soccer stadiums a boon for Swiss arms exports

Swiss arms exports rose more than 40% to CHF 516m in the first half of this year, the Economy Ministry said, with CHF 159.8m in sales of air defence systems to Qatar to protect stadiums during the soccer World Cup making a decisive contribution.

After Qatar, the top five buyers were Denmark, Saudi Arabia, Germany and Botswana. Denmark and Botswana bought armoured vehicles and Germany ammunition and spare parts.

Switzerland does not sell new systems to Saudi Arabia in order to prevent them being used in the Yemen war: sales to Riyadh encompassed spare parts and ammunition for air defence systems.