The National Council Management Commission would have ordered an “inspection” about the American F-35 combat aircraft commanded by Switzerland, whose costs are threatening to explode, announces the German Sunday press. The said commission will communicate on this subject on Tuesday.
La Sonntagszeitung the NZZ on Sunday et Le Sonntagsblick The three of them looked at the burning subject of the F-35, the opportunity of the acquisition is increasingly debated. Today, the purchase price of these 36 devices no longer seems engraved in marble.
On Wednesday, the Federal Council indicated that Switzerland was stated at the fixed price negotiated during the order in 2021, or 6 billion francs, while the United States invokes “a misunderstanding” and demanded 650 million at an additional $ 1.3 billion. According to the DDPS, the reason invoked is high inflation in the United States as well as the high rise in raw materials and energy prices.
>> Read also: Purchase of F-35: The Federal Council defends the agreed price, Washington evokes a “misunderstanding”
The management committee, responsible for controlling the Federal Council and the Federal Administration, therefore decided on Friday to look at this purchase of 36 American fighter hunting planes, report the Sunday press. The decision must be officially communicated on Tuesday, its president Erich Hess (UDC/BE) told Keystone-ATS.
>> Also listen to the forum subject:
Fixed price, but not a lump sum
According to the NZZ AM Sonntag, internal documents show that the United States has guaranteed Switzerland a fixed price, but did not indicate an amount, or if they were Swiss dollars or francs.
It was only promised to give in the plane at the same price as the one that the United States must pay to the manufacturer Lockheed Martin. However, according to the United States, if this price changes, Switzerland will also have to pay more.
“It is exactly as it always happens with the arms sales of the United States. This is the norm that applies to all countries,” said the national councilor and president of the Priska Seiler Safety Policy Commission (PS/ZH) in the NZZ Am Sonntag. “I have always been convinced that the lie would one day be discovered,” she adds.
Insufficient
In addition to the price of devices, it appears today that the F-35s have been ordered with insufficient equipment, relates the Sonntagsblick, based on indiscretions from an initiate. Thus, for a third of the devices, the bombs are not included in the command. Air-to-air missiles of AMRAAM, which must be acquired separately. A single Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile is also planned by plane.
“It is not a secret that the F-35s are rudimentary,” confirmed the president of the Security Commission of the National Council Priska Seiler (PS/ZH) confirmed in Keystone.
In the Sonntagsblick, the communications manager of Armasuisse Kaj -Gunnar Sievert – not reachable on Sunday by Keystone -ATS – said that Switzerland should again obtain “certain armaments systems”, but that all of this “had been planned”.
>> Also listen to the debate of the media forum with Priscilla Imboden, for the German online media Republik, Annick Chevillot, for the newspaper Le Temps and Florent Quiquerez, for Tamedia. ::
Edel with ATS
