Organisation and missions

The Air Force Staff is composed of the DCO's staff section and the staff section of the Air Force Chief of Staff. Together, they support the Commander of the Swiss Air Force and develop the principles required for commanding the air force and for its mid and long-term planning.

The DCO's staff section is primarily responsible for the management planning, which encompasses management development, doctrine, project and test planning, and operating the combined air force systems. This is carried out with a long-term perspective and geared to fulfilling the section's responsibilities within the Federal Administration.

The Air Force Chief of Staff's staff section primarily focuses on military planning. It is subdivided into the joint functional areas A1 to A9 as commonly used at the international level.  "A" stands for "Air", i.e. the air force. The perspective is medium-term and geared to military planning and command. The basic tasks and responsibilities of the joint functional areas are as follows:

In the Air Force Staff, A3 and A5 are combined, A2 and A9 are led by a conscript officer, and A8 does not exist.

The Air Force Chief of Staff is responsible for planning, issuing orders and monitoring operations, and the basic and continuing training of conscript and professional personnel.  They issue air force standard orders (STANORD), and operational orders for operations like the protection of the World Economic Forum WEF in Davos and for joint field and staff exercises. The Air Force Staff also contributes to the issuing of orders at operational and/or strategic levels. Every deployment concludes with a debriefing process in which lessons are drawn

The Air Force Staff issues specifications for the air force's basic and operational readiness and ensures that they are implemented. In support of the Chief of the Armed Forces, it is also involved in the crisis management at the Defence Group level.

The Air Force Chief of Staff is responsible for planning the annual air force event at Axalp. In addition, he is the project manager for the development of the permanent air policing intervention capability LP24.

Air Force Chief of Staff
Colonel GS Yves Fournier