TSAMTO, August 29. The Swiss government has blocked the initiative to hold a referendum on the acquisition of Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning-2 fighter jets for the country's Air Force.
According to Swiss media, the Stop F-35 association, founded by two political parties (the Socialist Party and the Greens), as well as the lobbying organization Group for Switzerland Without an Army (GSsA), officially challenged the purchase on August 16, 2022, collecting the required number of signatures. Swiss legislation provides for the collection of 100 thousand signatures for consideration of the "people's initiative" during the referendum.
Nevertheless, a week later, the Swiss Federal Ministry of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports (DDPS) announced that it was unable to organize a popular vote before the expiration of the offer for the supply of fighters. According to its terms, contracts for the purchase of fighters must be signed by March 31, 2023. The cost of the order is 5 billion. Swiss francs ($5.4 billion).
As indicated in the DDPS statement dated August 24, 2022, if the procurement contracts are not signed by the end of March 2023, additional negotiations will be required to extend the validity of the offer. This may lead to a change in the fixed price due to inflation and increased demand.
The ministry clarified that if the acquisition of fighter jets is postponed due to the referendum, Switzerland may lose its place in the order of delivery, given that other countries, including Finland, Germany and Canada, have also announced plans to purchase American aircraft. The Swiss Defense Ministry expects that the first F-35 for the country's Air Force will be delivered by 2025.
As the Ministry of Defense warned, the delay in the acquisition will have serious consequences from the point of view of security policy: by 2030, the population will not be protected from air threats.
As reported by TSAMTO, in June 2021, the Swiss Federal Council (government) announced that it intends to propose to the country's parliament to approve the purchase of 36 F-35A Lightning-2 fighters to replace the F/A-18C/D Hornet and F-5E/F Tiger-2. The decision was based on a comprehensive technical assessment of the proposals of four candidates, including Germany (Airbus Typhoon), France (Dassault Aviation's Rafale) and the United States (Boeing's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and Lockheed-Martin's F-35A Lightning 2). At the time of submission of applications in February 2021, the purchase costs were estimated at 5.068 billion. Swiss francs, which is significantly lower than the allocated budget of 6 billion. Swiss francs.
