Development followsThe United States triumphs –
Resigned, the Federal Council will pay more for F-35
The bill should increase from 650 million to 1.3 billion. The fixed price of 6 billion, promised by Viola Amherd, turned out to be a mirage.
The prices of the thirty F-35 Swiss will fly away.
AFP
- The cost of the Swiss F-35 will increase up to 1.3 billion more than expected.
- Washington refuses the Swiss interpretation of the fixed price of 6 billion.
- The increases at Lockheed Martin will be automatically passed on to the Swiss bill.
- Federal finance control had warned of the impossibility of a fixed price.
The acquisition of new F-35 combat aircraft will cost much more than expected. The Federal Council, after having ordered law notices and began negotiations with the USA, reverse this Wednesday. He agreed to pay a price higher than the 6 billion initially planned. The extension could amount from 650 million to 1.3 billion.
It is a debacle for the Federal Department of Defense and its former headache Viola Amherd. The federal councilor had repeated on all tones that “the price was fixed” and that Switzerland would not have to pay the slightest supplement. A promise that she had made during the vote in 2020 where the purchase of the F-35 had been accepted by the hair.
Lockheed Martin et l’inflation
The price scandal broke out in June 2025 when the new Minister of Defense Martin Pfister had to reveal that the costs could explode by 1.35 billion francs. The United States indeed disputes the Swiss interpretation of the “fixed price”, explaining that this term does not freeze a cost in marble but simply links the two countries with an identical amount invoiced. Concretely, if inflation and the rise in raw materials explode costs at the manufacturer Lockheed Martin, Washington automatically affects this invoice on Switzerland.
The Federal Council tried to defend the fixed price of 6 billion first by multiplying discussions with high -ranking representatives of the Trump administration. The new head of the Federal Defense Department Martin Pfister even spoke on the phone with his counterpart Pete Hegseth, the United States Minister of Defense. In vain.
Disillusioned federal council
“Based on the discussions, Switzerland must accept that the price per batch of production corresponds to the negotiated value between the US government and Lockheed Martin and that it cannot impose the fixed price,” notes the Federal Council resigned in a press release. He can only attack himself. The federal finance control had warned him, before the signing of the contract, that a fixed price did not hold the road in this type of acquisition.
Development follows after the press conference of Martin Pfister
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