Sion Airport PC-6, Pilatus PC-7, Pilatus PC-9 and Pilatus PC-21 as well as helicopters it uses Sion intensively with the fighter jets F/A-18 and F-5 Tiger. It is the home base of the militia pilot unit Fliegerstaffel 19 Swans with F-5E. Sion Airport is, at both ends of the runway, equipped with retractable arresting gear devices (used by the F/A-18 and in case of a problem by the F-5). Because of the redimension of the Swiss Air Force it is planned that the Air Force will leave Sion after 2017 and Sion will be used by civil aviation only, acting only as
Lauda Sion Roman Catholic Church in transubstantiation, that is, that the bread and wine truly become the Body and Blood of Christ when consecrated by a validly-ordained priest or bishop during the Mass. "Lauda Sion" is one of only four medieval Sequences which were preserved in the "Missale Romanum" published in 1570 following the Council of Trent (1545–1563)—the others being Victimae paschali laudes (Easter), Veni Sancte Spiritus (Pentecost), and Dies Irae (Requiem Masses). (A fifth, Stabat Mater, would later be added in 1727.) Before Trent, many feasts had their own sequences. The "Lauda Sion" is still sung today, though its use is