Colonel Mario Schwarz

Chief Air Defence Branch & Chief Dispersed Ops Swiss Air Force

Colonel Schwarz is a General Staff Officer in the Swiss Air Force Staff, serving as Head of Airspace Protection (IADS) and Head of the Air Force Working Group on Decentralisation (ACE). An F/A-18 pilot since 2008, he previously trained on the PC-7 and F-5 and has served as a division leader and tactical F/A-18 flight instructor. From 2013 to 2018, he was a member of the Swiss Air Force PC-7 Display Team. He later served as Chief Flight Operations at Payerne Air Base (2019-2020), Commander of Fighter Squadron 18 in 2021, and Commander of Fighter Wing 11 from 2022 to 2024. His experience in Agile Combat Employment (ACE) includes leading F/A-18 deployments to former military airfields in the Swiss Alps and overseeing Exercise AUNO in June 2025, which featured the first landing of Swiss combat aircraft on a motorway since 1992. He completed Swiss General Staff training between 2019 and 2022 and graduated from the École de Guerre in Paris (32nd Promotion, 2024-2025).