Swiss Fighter Gap Looms as F-35 Cost Overruns Force Bern to Eye Cold War Relics

Switzerland may be compelled to keep Cold War-era jets aloft well into the next decade, as cost overruns on its Lockheed Martin F-35A programme threaten to open a gap in the protection of Alpine airspace, a predicament being watched closely by Europe's own combat-aircraft makers.

Lawmakers are pushing a measure that would task the government with examining a temporary continuation of F-5 Tiger operations until the end of 2030 and an extended service life for the F/A-18 fleet beyond 2030. The proposal, backed by the National Council's Security Policy Committee on 24 February by 13 votes to 9, is now scheduled for debate in the full chamber.

The pressure stems from a programme that has burst its voter-approved limits. Additional costs communicated by the United States, estimated at up to CHF1.3bn, made it impossible to respect the financial ceiling while keeping the original 36-aircraft fleet. By March, Defence Minister Martin Pfister was requesting a further CHF394m from parliament, leaving Switzerland expecting to acquire 30 jets rather than 36.

The timing is awkward. On 1 June the government confirmed completion of the F/A-18 life-extension programme, carried out with RUAG, clearing all 30 aircraft to fly up to 6,000 hours each and keeping the fleet operational into the early 2030s but no further.

For Europe's defence industry, the episode is instructive. Bern chose the F-35A in 2021 over Dassault's Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon and Boeing's Super Hornet, presenting the American jet as the most cost-effective option. That calculus, central to selling the deal to a sceptical public, now looks considerably less certain, lending fresh weight to European arguments about the price of strategic dependence on Washington.