Swiss Face Higher Fighter-Jet Cost as US Squeezes Government
Negotiations between Swiss and US officials, including Defense Minister Martin Pfister and his US counterpart Pete Hegseth, failed to sway the US to consider a fixed price, according to the government. Cost overruns will be somewhere between 650 million and 1.3 billion Swiss francs, the government said.
'The discussions clearly showed that the USA is not prepared to deviate from its position,' the government said in a statement on Wednesday. As a result, the government must now accept a price per production batch that corresponds to the value negotiated between the US government and the manufacturer, the release said.
At the same time, the unfavorable outcome won't prompt the government to immediately cancel the order, it said. Instead, the Federal Department of Defence will 'examine various options in depth' by the end of November, including whether 'current air defence requirements still correspond to the principles on which the evaluation of the F-35A was based,' according to the release.
The latest tussle between the Swiss and the US government comes after US President Donald Trump slapped the highest tariff in the developed world on Switzerland, a surprise move that only heightened public criticism of the already controversial F-35 purchase. Lawmakers across parties have pushed for canceling the contract outright after the tariff decision.
Switzerland had for years taken the stance that the 36 F-35As it ordered would be delivered at a fixed price of 6 billion francs. In June, it acknowledged a disagreement with the US over the price and said it would seek a diplomatic solution.
The Swiss Air Force now flies older F-5 and F/A-18 jets that date to the 1970s and 1980s, and is looking to replace all of its combat fleet with advanced aircraft. The F-35A stealth fighters it has ordered, at a cost now set to reach as high as 7.3 billion Swiss francs, would be a major step up in capability, and a dozen friendly European countries also operate them.
The jet has been a mainstay of Lockheed Martin's bottom line for years. But criticism over cost overruns has flared this year, and the Pentagon sharply cut its proposed purchase of F-35s for fiscal 2026, while pouring more money into rival companies' programs. The Swiss jets on order represents about a third of the number the company delivered in 2024.
This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.
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