The Swiss people voted against buying 22 JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets in 2014
(Keystone)
Swiss voters will have a say on whether to buy new fighter jets – but not on the type of jet. The Federal Council said on Friday the issue would be put to the nation given the large amount of money involved and that it was an essential part of national security.
It added that the two previous projects to buy new jets – F/A-18s in 1993 and Gripen fighters in 2014 – had also been subject to a nationwide vote. The 22-plane Gripen contract was rejected by 53.4% of voters.
A vote is expected to be held by 2020 at the latest. The government said the type of plane will be decided after the vote.
In November, the Federal Council said it wanted to spend CHF8 billion ($8.4 billion) on new fighter jets and missile defences for the Swiss army. It tasked the defence ministry with looking at potential aircraft and has asked it to begin talks with Airbus, Boeing, Dassault, Lockheed Martin and Saab.
On Friday, the pacifist Switzerland Without an Army group criticised the government’s strategy as “undemocratic”, saying voters would know neither the cost nor number of planes – or indeed what the planes could even do. The group said it would start collecting signatures for a referendum against the purchase.
All rights reserved. The content of the website by swissinfo.ch is copyrighted. It is intended for private use only. Any other use of the website content beyond the use stipulated above, particularly the distribution, modification, transmission, storage and copying requires prior written consent of swissinfo.ch. Should you be interested in any such use of the website content, please contact us via contact@swissinfo.ch.
As regards the use for private purposes, it is only permitted to use a hyperlink to specific content, and to place it on your own website or a website of third parties. The swissinfo.ch website content may only be embedded in an ad-free environment without any modifications. Specifically applying to all software, folders, data and their content provided for download by the swissinfo.ch website, a basic, non-exclusive and non-transferable license is granted that is restricted to the one-time downloading and saving of said data on private devices. All other rights remain the property of swissinfo.ch. In particular, any sale or commercial use of these data is prohibited.
