F-35 fighter jets cost much more than originally planned

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• Switzerland cannot push through the fixed price for 36 F-35 jets, which could mean additional costs of up to CHF 1.3 billion.
• The USA is sticking to its price, the Federal Council is examining alternatives.
• The procurement remains unchanged.

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Switzerland is unable to push through the fixed price of CHF 6 billion for 36 new F-35 fighter jets. After talks, the USA sticks to its position. This results in additional costs of CHF 0.65 to 1.3 billion. The Federal Council is examining various options, as it announced on Wednesday afternoon.

During the summer break, Switzerland and the USA were unable to reach a diplomatic agreement on the issue of the fixed price for the procurement of fighter aircraft, as the Swiss government announced on Wednesday at its first meeting of the second semester. The USA was not prepared to deviate from its position.

According to the Federal Council, the "intensive talks with high-ranking representatives of the White House" were therefore unsuccessful. Defense Minister Martin Pfister was also unable to placate his US counterpart Pete Hegseth on the phone regarding the price issue.

Procurement freeze is not an option

The fixed price of CHF 6 billion repeatedly communicated by the Federal Council is therefore no longer valid. "As a result of the talks, Switzerland must accept that the price per production batch corresponds to the value negotiated between the US government and Lockheed Martin," writes the Swiss government.

What this means in concrete terms is still unclear. The range of possible additional costs for the procurement of the F-35 fighter jets extends from 650 million to 1.3 billion Swiss francs.

The SP is unhappy about the high additional costs. "This latest event in a long series of problems surrounding the F-35 procurement shows once again that this purchase must be stopped immediately", explains Cédric Wermuth, Co-President of the SP Switzerland, in a press release. "The appointment of a working group is nothing but window-dressing." Co-President Mattea Meyer says: "We demand that the electorate be able to decide again on the F-35 purchase and that this procurement is not simply pushed through the back door after false promises"

According to the Federal Council, the exact total costs for the procurement cannot be determined at present. These depend largely on the further course of inflation in the USA, the development of commodity prices on the global markets and other factors such as price increases due to the tariffs imposed by the USA worldwide, it said.

The Federal Council has now instructed the Department of Defense (DDPS) to reanalyze fighter aircraft procurement in light of the new situation. Various options are to be examined in depth by the end of November. However, the national government has reaffirmed that it remains committed to the procurement of the F-35 jets.