Residents receive noise protection windows New F-35 fighter jet is so loud - it's costing the army a lot
The new F-35 fighter jets require additional noise protection measures at the three military airfields in Payerne VD, Meiringen BE and Emmen LU. In peacetime, most take-offs and landings are planned at Payerne. The F-35s are stationed in Payerne and Meiringen.
20.04.2026, 22:35
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- The F-35 fighter jet is up to 3 decibels louder than an F/A-18.
- This has consequences for noise protection around the military airfields in Payerne VD, Meiringen BE and Emmen LU.
- Around 230 buildings near the airfields will have to be retrofitted with soundproof windows.
When an F-35 fighter jet takes off, it is louder than an F/A-18 today, according to the Federal Office of Armaments (Armasuisse). Overall, however, residents living near military airfields would not have to put up with any more noise, as the new fighter jets take to the air less often than the F/A-18s during everyday training.
In Switzerland from 2028
The first F-35s will arrive in Payerne from mid-2028. They will arrive in Meiringen in 2030 and in Emmen in 2032. The Federal Department of Defense (DDPS) and the Federal Armaments Office (Armasuisse) will have to take additional noise protection measures due to the new jets, as they announced on Monday.
Fighter squadrons will be stationed in Payerne and Meiringen. Emmen, on the other hand, will be the location for training and flight tests. An average of 4,200 F-35 flight movements - i.e. take-offs, landings and take-off maneuvers - are expected for Payerne on a daily basis from 2033. Training flights are scheduled to take place 38 weeks of the year.
In Meiringen, an average of 2040 movements are expected in 38 weeks, with a maximum of 2500. In Emmen, an average of 1090 flight movements are expected in 34 weeks of the year, with a maximum of 1350. Just over half of all flight movements take place in Payerne in peacetime.
Fewer jets does not mean fewer flights
Meiringen has to bear around a quarter and Emmen 13 percent. Around a tenth of all take-offs and landings will take place abroad. However, in the event of increased tensions or armed conflict, half of the F-35s will take off and land from Payerne and half from Meiringen.
The DDPS currently assumes that around thirty F-35s will be procured. For cost reasons, this is fewer than the 36 initially planned. This will not reduce the number of aircraft movements at the military airfields. This is because, despite the lower number, there are roughly the same number of aircraft in operational use.
The noise protection concept envisages keeping the number of training flights low. As a rule, out of consideration for the communities near the airfields, no training is carried out at weekends or on Monday mornings and Friday afternoons. There is also more simulator training.
Noise protection for 230 additional buildings
Despite efforts to reduce the number of F-35 flights compared to the quieter F/A-18, the limits will be exceeded and the federal government will have to take additional measures. The installation of soundproof windows is planned in buildings where the limit value is exceeded due to the new jets.
Compared to today, an additional 230 buildings will have to be equipped at the expense of the DDPS. Most of these are in Emmen. Of the 200 or so properties affected there, only around one in ten already has soundproof windows. Thirty properties each in Meiringen and Payerne still need to be fitted with these windows.
The DDPS will only cover the costs for inhabited rooms. The number and location of buildings requiring noise protection are known from measurements and noise calculations by the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research Empa.
Hearing comparison postponed
Since Monday, the DDPS has been providing information in Payerne, Meiringen and Emmen about the deployment of the F-35 and the changing noise pollution. The documents are available to the public from May 18 to June 17.
The public can comment on them and lodge any objections. The Federal Council will decide on the object sheets for each airfield. The DDPS will then decide on the operating regulations for the airfields, including the permissible noise pollution.
Decisions will be made on exceptions to the noise protection regulations, the obligation to install soundproof windows and any objections. The noise protection concept is to be implemented from the second half of 2027.
A hearing comparison of F-35s and F/A-18s planned for Meiringen this week cannot take place as planned. The event had to be postponed indefinitely because the Italian Air Force is not bringing two F-35s to Switzerland as planned for operational reasons.
