The bill totals over 6 billion Swiss francs (6.3 billion euros). On Monday, Switzerland signed the contract for the controversial purchase of 36 American F-35 fighter jets. “On September 19, 2022, armaments general Martin Sonderegger and project manager Darko Savic signed the purchase agreement with the American government at Armasuisse in Bern,” says a media release from the Armasuisse authority responsible for the procurement of armaments from the Swiss Confederation.
According to the current schedule, the delivery of the F-35A from the American Lockheed-Martin must begin in 2027 and extend to 2030. Armasuisse insists that “the prices and the terms of the contract” are “bindingly fixed” in the contract and are subject to strict controls”.
A barely approved envelope
At the same time, the agency also signed the CHF 2.9 billion industrial compensation agreement, which is intended to enable Swiss industrialists to benefit from the windfall. The signature is the final act in a long saga to provide the Swiss Air Force with new aircraft.
At the end of June 2021, the Federal Council decided to acquire the F-35, which is considered one of the most modern and sophisticated combat aircraft in the world and is already equipping or will equip many European countries. The Swiss had just approved a budget of 6 billion Swiss francs in September 2020 to allow the air forces to acquire a new fleet, with the aircraft currently in service – the F/A 18 and F5 – reaching the end of their service life Decade.
Device selection survey
While the Swiss government claims that the plane was by far the best and the lowest price of any jet competing for the order (Rafale, F/A-18 and Eurofighter), the myriad of technical difficulties and budget overruns of the F-35 program are compelling in the USA had prompted two Swiss parliamentary committees to initiate an investigation into the choice of aircraft.
These commissions did not fundamentally question the election, but some of their members regretted that the Bundesrat had not allowed itself more leeway to go beyond the technical and financial assessment and thus be able to take more political factors into account. Communication with European allies and France in particular was also criticized. Recently, Greece, Germany have joined the list of European countries looking to acquire the F-35, which has already been purchased by the UK, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, Finland, Norway, the country -Bas and Poland.