Lockheed Martin is ahead in Swiss fighter jet evaluation, says TV report

Unnamed sources told SRF that a press release about the purchase of the F-35 had already been drafted - but the entire Federal Council could still decide otherwise. Keystone / Yonhap

Lockheed Martin's F35-A has come out top in a Swiss evaluation to find a new replacement fighter jet for the armed forces, Swiss public television SRF reported on Monday.

The government is due to decide this month between the American F35-A, the Airbus Eurofighter, the French Rafale from Dassault and another US-made fighter jet – Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet.

“According to insiders, the preparations for the eagerly awaited Federal Council (executive body) decision are well advanced. A media release about the purchase of the F-35 has already been drafted – but the entire Federal Council could still decide otherwise,” SRF said on MondayExternal link, citing three independent unnamed sources.

The sources told SRF that: “Switzerland can buy a larger number of F-35s with the budgeted CHF6 billion than would be the case with the three competitors. The F-35’s simulator could also be an asset. It would allow the F-35 to carry out significantly more virtual training missions than with the competition.”
 

swissinfo.ch

The defence ministry declined to comment.

On September 27, Swiss voters narrowly approved a CHF6 billion funding packet that allows the armed forces to go ahead with the purchase of new fighter jets to replace its ageing fleet of F-5 Tigers and F/A-18 Hornet jets by 2030. New jets are to be delivered by 2025.

At least two of the seven Federal Council members would prefer a European fighter jet, SRF said.

Critics, who include the Group for a Switzerland without an Army, the leftwing Social Democratic Party and the Green Party, have promised to launch a referendum against any decision to buy a US fighter jet.