Fixed price promise for the F-35 crumbles - DDPS deletes critical clarifications

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• For years, the Defense Department DDPS under Viola Amherd had dismissed criticism that warned of additional costs in the procurement of the F-35 jets as "false".
• Now it is confirmed: Switzerland cannot enforce the promised fixed prices.
• Most of the "corrections" on the DDPS website have since been deleted - but the fixed price is still there.

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Under the leadership of Viola Amherd, the Department of Defense (DDPS) repeatedly rejected reports and statements about impending additional costs for the F-35 fighter jet as "false". In so-called "corrections", the department defended the claim that Switzerland was procuring the jet at fixed prices - an argument that is now no longer tenable. Following failed negotiations with the USA, the Federal Council has to accept additional costs.

Nevertheless, the DDPS website still contains statements such as "Switzerland is not threatened with a price increase for the F-35", writes theTagesanzeiger. Explosive: all corrections prior to 2022, including many from the decisive voting period on the jet, have since been deleted. A spokesperson explains that older content is "regularly removed" as the website is not an archive.

In one of the last still visible "clarifications" from 2022, the DDPS claims that it is a fixed-price contract including inflation protection. Criticism - for example from current SP member of the Council of States Franziska Roth or National Councillor Sarah Wyss - was rejected as "false". Today, both express concern about the way the DDPS deals with critical voices. Roth is calling for the public statements to be corrected: "There is no fixed price. The DDPS must immediately correct its corrections."

However, the DDPS is adamant. A spokesperson and Federal Councillor Martin Pfister continue to defend the original fixed price narrative - with the addition that this price cannot now be enforced. The DDPS is not planning an apology or correction.

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