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Ruag is assembling fewer F-35s in Switzerland than planned.
Archivbild: Boris Roessler/dpa
Ruag will only assemble three F-35s in Switzerland instead of the originally planned four. The main reason for this reduction is the high cost of final parts assembly at the armaments company's site in Emmen.
With the contract for the final assembly of four of the 36 new Swiss F-35 fighter jets, the Federal Office of Armaments (Armasuisse) has chosen the Ruag site in Emmen, Lucerne, as the competence center for the new military acquisition at the end of 2025. Now the scope for assembling the fighter jets is being reduced to three aircraft - the costs are too high.
Several independent sources have confirmed to "SRF" that Ruag can only assemble three jets instead of four. The main reason for this is the cost of production at Ruag. The manufacturer Lockheed Martin is therefore not prepared to finance the assembly of four jets in Switzerland.
This means that the armaments group will lose a significant part of the independent development of the Swiss F-35 fleet. The federal government intends to develop know-how during assembly in order to later be able to maintain the Swiss F-35 fleet and possibly also foreign fighter jets. Through the final assembly and testing of the four F-35s, Ruag is building up significant, safety-relevant knowledge regarding operation, maintenance and upkeep, the armaments group said in October 2025.
However, the so-called Rigi project is now experiencing a setback with the reduced number of assemblies. Ruag Chairman of the Board of Directors, Jürg Rötheli, was cautious in the SRF Saturday Review. He explained that the contract negotiations are still ongoing. "We are currently in the final negotiations for the contract," said Rötheli.
Jürg Rötheli, Chairman of the Ruag Board of Directors, does not believe that the maintenance business for the F-35 is at risk.
Archivbild: sda
At the same time, Rötheli believes that the know-how is also secured for the assembly of three F-35s. It is not important "whether there are three, four or five. All our experts confirm this."
Nevertheless, the imminent reduction in the number of fighter jets does not reflect well on the arms manufacturer. Foreign air forces could be deterred from placing maintenance orders for their F-35 jets by the high costs at Ruag. With a total of 800 to 900 F-35 jets stationed in Europe in the future, the loss from lost maintenance orders would be immense. At the same time, there is little competition. Only in Cameri, Italy, is another competence center available for the maintenance of the aircraft.
Jürg Rötheli is correspondingly optimistic: "Our aim is to position ourselves with efficiency improvements so that we can maintain part of the European fleet here," the Chairman of the Ruag Board of Directors explains to SRF. Talks with other countries are already underway. "There are two countries in the north of Switzerland," says Rötheli. "They are interested because they can see what we are doing with the Swiss predecessor aircraft, the F/A-18."
