US circumvents Swiss payment freeze for Patriot air-defence system

Patriot is one of the best long-range air defence systems. However, it will be several years before the product from the US manufacturer Raytheon is delivered to Switzerland. sda-ats

Switzerland halted payments for US Patriot surface-to-air defence systems last autumn after learning deliveries would be delayed by several years. But the Swiss public broadcaster SRF reveals that the freeze is having little effect: the US has been redirecting Swiss payments intended for the F‑35 fighter jet to cover Patriot costs.

Urs Loher, director of national armaments at the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement (armasuisse), confirmed the US move and told SRF how much money has already been shifted. But under pressure from US authorities, he can no longer disclose the exact figure. He describes it only as “a low three-digit million amount” – meaning well over CHF100 million ($126 million).

The US is thus circumventing the payment freeze by redirecting Swiss F‑35 fighter jet funds to the Patriot system. How is this possible?

In the US, arms deals with foreign countries always go through the US government’s Foreign Military Sales Program (FMS). Within this programme, the US maintains a fund for all Swiss arms purchases.

Whether it is for the F-35 or for the Patriot, all Swiss payments end up in this fund. If one project lacks money, the US is allowed to access funds for other projects. This is exactly what the American authorities are now doing: money intended for the F‑35 programme is being used to finance the Patriot system.

Swiss defence ministry must inject additional funds

“This is very unsatisfactory,” Loher says. The redirection of funds puts the Swiss defence ministry under pressure and leaves shortfalls in the budget for the F-35 jets.

At the end of 2025, the ministry had to transfer several tens of millions of francs ahead of schedule to the US to plug the gap. These early payments intensify the ministry’s existing financial problems: it is already struggling to fund approved arms procurements.

Patriot delays and soaring costs

The Swiss defence ministry signed the Patriot contracts with the US four years ago for five Patriot air-defence batteries, with deliveries due to begin this year. In 2025, however, Washington informed Bern it would prioritise deliveries to Ukraine. In February, Switzerland learned the delay would be four to five years.

Since then, the outbreak of war in Iran has massively increased global demand for Patriot systems. According to SRF, this is leading to further delays, putting Switzerland at a further disadvantage. A delay of at least five years can now be expected. Reliable new estimates from the US are not available.

In February 2025, the US also told the Swiss defence ministry the system would cost significantly more. Loher estimates the price increase at up to 50%, pushing the total purchase price up by CHF1 billion to CHF3 billion.

Despite the payment freeze, the US is expected to continue redirecting F‑35 funds to the Patriot this year. Loher nevertheless defends the freeze as a political signal that helped prompt more transparency from the US about the lengthy delays.

Criticism from parliament

Swiss parliamentarians have reacted critically to the news.

“It’s frustrating when we impose a payment freeze and the money is simply redirected,” says Werner Salzmann, a senator and security expert from the right-wing Swiss People’s Party. Senator Josef Dittli of the centre-right Radical-Liberal Party adds that the Swiss defence ministry apparently did not realise such a by-pass was possible.

Priska Seiler Graf, a Social Democrat lawmaker, feels vindicated in her earlier call to cancel the Patriot purchase. Her party generally opposes major US arms acquisitions.

Salzmann, too, says his trust in Washington has suffered: “The FMS contracts are producing more and more interpretation problems. We need to think carefully about whether we want to keep signing such agreements.”

Meanwhile, talks between the Swiss defence ministry and the US continue. Loher hopes to secure a postponement of Patriot payments, since the deliveries are being delayed. The outcome is uncertain but he acknowledges that “the power relations are quite clear”.

Assessment by SRF federal parliament reporter Dominik Meier:

This is not the first time Switzerland has found itself at a disadvantage in a US arms deal. With the purchase of F‑35 fighter jets, the defence ministry mistakenly relied on what it believed was a fixed price. Now it is stumbling again over the small print of the Patriot contract.

The small print allows the US to bypass Switzerland’s payment freeze and ensure money continues to flow according to the original payment plan. This was agreed jointly, but the US is unilaterally delaying delivery by four to five years.

Switzerland could consider cancelling the Patriot contract, as the Social Democrats demand. But this would be very risky. The money already paid would likely be lost, and the already fragile relationship with Washington could suffer – with potential negative consequences for F‑35 deliveries.

In the long term, the Federal Council wants Switzerland to rely less on the US. Last year it decided that 90% of future armaments should be purchased domestically or from European partners. The only problem is that Europe’s arms industry is fully booked for years, while Swiss industry increasingly specialises on the supplier business. Swiss industry cannot produce large systems such as long-range air defence.

In other words, alternatives to the US will be limited in the future too.

Adapted from German with AI/sb