In 2007 the Swiss Government made a request for more knives for the Swiss Army for distribution in the Autumn of 2007. Due to the size of the order the WTO (World Trade Organisation) rules meant that the order should be open to all comanies around the world, not just the native manufacturers Victorinox and Wenger

To us, it seemed only right that the order was placed with Victorinox, who will produce the new Soldier knife for the Swiss Army. The latest Soldier's knife replaces the previous Swiss Army Soldier's knife, which was introduced in 1961 (Pre 2008 Soldier models are available in our ebay shop). The evaluation phase of the new Soldier's knife began in early 2008, when the Swiss Army (Armee Suisse) issued an invitation to tender. Surprisingly only a total of seven worldwide manufacturers were invited to take part inthe evaluation process. Fully functional models were submitted by the seven manufacturers and underwent practicl testing by the Swiss Military in the summer of 2008, whilst laboratory tests were undertaken to assess the compliance with technical requirements. The model with the best cost/performance ratio was awarded as the winner.

The order for 75,000 Soldier's knives, including their sheaths was worth around CHF 1.4 million. The issue of the new Soldier's knife is imminent (as of early 2009) and will be used by troops during their basic training sessions.

As soon as these new Soldier's knives become available to the trade we will be stocking them in our ebay shop Click Here

Thankyou for reading our guide and we hope it has been useful to you.