Swiss pilots show off their skills over the Alps
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The Federal Council wants to spend CHF8 billion ($8.1 billion) on new fighter jets and missile defences for the Swiss army. These five planes are high on the shopping list.
Defence Minister Guy Parmelin says the current fleet of planes and anti-aircraft missiles are coming to the end of their service life: the 30 F/A-18s can be used until 2030 and the 53 F-5 Tiger jets are already no longer suitable for “real operations” (26 still fly regularly). The anti-aircraft missiles are operational until 2025, he says.
The Federal Council has not revealed how exactly it wants to spend the CHF8 million, the biggest arms procurement programme in modern Swiss history. It has tasked the defence ministry with evaluating potential jets, wanting it to begin talks with Airbus, Boeing, Dassault, Lockheed Martin and Saab.
Will voters – who in 2014 rejected spending CHF3.1 billion on 22 Gripen fighters – have the final say? That’s still to be decided. “The situation today is totally different,” reckons Parmelin, saying there’s no alternative and that this was the only way to protect Swiss airspace.
Here are the jet models being considered so far for purchase by the Swiss government:
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No more than CHF8 billion for new fighter jets
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Switzerland will spend no more than CHF8 billion ($8 billion) on new fighter jets and missile defences, the Federal Council said on Wednesday.
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Parmelin’s strategy was based on a report prepared by a group of experts about possibilities for purchasing new planes. He told the press on Monday that rushing the process and procuring new jets more quickly, as several parliamentarians have argued for, would be “the worst” possible decision because “a serious approach” must be taken to…
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Final results show 53.4% of voters came out against the acquisition of 22 JAS-39 Gripen fighter jets by the Swedish Saab company. Political analyst Claude Longchamp of the leading GfS Bern research and polling institute says opposition by both the political left and some centrist parties made the difference. “It gives the armed forces something…
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Polls closed at midday and final results are expected later in the day. More than 20 years after a ballot on the controversial acquisition of fighter jets from the United States, voters once again have the final say on the partial renewal of the air force. But his time round the outcome may not be…
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.