By John Revill
ZURICH (Reuters) – Switzerland’s government was meeting on Wednesday to pick a next-generation fighter plane after a decade-long political tug-of-war over a 6 billion Swiss franc ($6.5 billion) contest among bidders from Europe and the United States.
Contenders include the Rafale from France’s Dassault, Boeing’s F/A-18 Super Hornet, Lockheed Martin’s F35-A Lightning II and the four-nation Eurofighter built by Germany and Spain backed Airbus, Italy’s Leonardo and Britain’s BAE Systems.
Swiss television reported last week that the F-35 provided the best technical and financial features in a Swiss evaluation, but the final decision was still open.
A deal by Switzerland with a European manufacturer could be seen as an attempt by Bern to heal relations with the European Union after the collapse of talks earlier this year about a new agreement to regulate their ties, analysts said.
Neutral Switzerland last year narrowly approved the funding for new fighters in a national referendum.
Opinion polls had shown the plan would easily win approval in a country where armed neutrality is a tradition, but only 50.2% of voters approved the funding in September.
The result is being closely watched as the first of three face-offs ahead of procurement decisions in Finland and Canada.
Switzerland’s latest bid to procure fighters is driven by a pressing need to replace ageing Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II and its 30 Boeing F/A-18 Hornet combat jets, which go out of service in 2030.
Both are suffering from fatigue and serviceability problems that have led to groundings https://www.reuters.com/article/ctech-us-swiss-jets-idCAKBN1FQ1CB-OCATC, according to Gareth Jennings, aviation editor at defence publication Jane’s. Voters seven years ago rejected the purchase of Gripen jets from Sweden’s Saab and anti-arms campaigners have argued that Switzerland, which last fought a foreign war more than 200 years ago and has no discernable enemies, does not need cutting-edge fighters
But supporters have said Switzerland needs to be able to protect itself without relying on others.
(Writing by John Revill and Tim Hepher; Editing by Alexander Smith)
