Armasuisse confirms Confederation must pay for retrofitting the F35 fighter jets
Taxpayers will have to pay for the retrofitting of the F35 fighter jets. This was confirmed by the Federal Armaments Office Armasuisse.
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- The federal government will have to pay for the retrofitting of the F35 fighter jets that the DDPS has ordered from the US armaments company Lockheed Martin.
- This was confirmed by the Federal Armaments Office Armasuisse.
- The procurement of the 36 fighter jets itself will cost Switzerland six billion Swiss francs.
- The retrofitting affects the engines of the F35 fighter jets, which will only be retrofitted in the USA itself after delivery to Switzerland begins in 2027.
The retrofitting of the F35 fighter jets ordered by the Department of Defense (DDPS) from the US armaments company Lockheed Martin will have to be paid for by the Confederation. This was confirmed by the Federal Armaments Office Armasuisse. The procurement of the 36 fighter jets itself will cost Switzerland six billion Swiss francs.
The retrofitting of the fighter jets must be paid for by the customer, said Armasuisse spokesman Kaj-Gunnar Sievert on the SRF radio program "Echo der Zeit" on Sunday evening. And that is Switzerland. This was first reported in the "Blick" newspaper.
The retrofitting affects the engines of the F35 fighter jets, which will only be retrofitted in the USA itself after delivery to Switzerland begins in 2027. According to Sievert, it is not yet possible to estimate how high the additional costs will be for Switzerland. However, the F35 is "not a financial risk", assured the Armasuisse spokesperson.
The Swiss electorate voted in favor of the procurement of new fighter aircraft in September 2020 - by an extremely narrow margin of 50.1 percent.
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