Le prix d’achat des 36 avions F-35A proposés à la Suisse a déjà augmenté de +20%
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)The purchase price of the 36 F-35A aircraft offered to Switzerland has already increased by +20%.
On 30 June, following a call for tenders under the Air 2030 programme, Switzerland announced its intention to purchase 36 5th generation F-35A Lightning II aircraft from the US manufacturer Lockheed-Martin as well as five Patriot air defence batteries for 1.970 billion.
At the time of the announcement, the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport [DDPS] claimed that Lockheed-Martin's offer, taking into account the purchase of the 36 aircraft and their operating costs over 30 years [i.e. a total of CHF 15.5 billion], was CHF 2 billion lower than the second best offer in the evaluations made by Armasuisse.
Furthermore, he claimed that the F-35A had proven to be the "most effective" of the three other fighter aircraft in the running [Rafale, Eurofighter and F/A-18 Super Hornet, editor's note] "due to its significant technological lead" and its "innovative, high-performance and widely connected systems for airspace protection and surveillance".
However, the amounts announced are already out of date... Indeed, while the acquisition contract has just been finalised by the American authorities, the 36 F-35A are now offered to Bern for the sum of 6.035 billion Swiss francs. This significant increase of +20% would be linked to "current inflation forecasts up to 2031".
In detail, it would cost 3.828 billion Swiss francs for the 36 F-35As, 1.927 billion for the "logistics package including ground equipment, replacement equipment, documentation, training and technical support provided by the manufacturer during the introduction period", 107 million for ammunition, 86 million "for systems for training and mission planning and evaluation", 82 million for "possible technical risks" and 5 million for "assumed cost increases".
A priori, these forecasts on future inflation do not concern the five Patriot batteries: their purchase price has hardly changed since last June, going from 1.970 to 1.987 billion Swiss francs...
As for the F-35A's operating costs, if they "turn out to be higher than expected until 2031, the United States will have to cover the costs in excess of the offer. Beyond that date, the DDPS will pay the difference. But the department has calculated the costs very conservatively. Moreover, the operating costs tend to decrease," explained Darko Savic, head of the "New Fighter Aircraft" project at Armasuisse.
As a reminder, Berne explains that the "relatively simple operation of the system and the information superiority of the F-35A lead to changes in the content of the training and change the ratio of flight hours to simulator hours". He added that the F-35A "requires about 20 per cent fewer flying hours than other candidates and almost 50 per cent fewer takeoffs and landings than the F/A-18 Hornet currently in service with the Swiss Air Force.
That said, the figures put forward by Switzerland are surprising... in Norway, which has to pay almost 9.5 billion euros for 52 F-35As, with an overall operating cost of 24 billion euros over 30 years. "Either Switzerland is underestimating its costs or Norway is paying too much," summarised the daily 20Minutes. But for the DDPS, "it is not clear which costs are included, or not, in each case.
In any case, Berne reminds us of the purchase of the F-35A and Patriot systems, "for the moment, the Letters of Offer and Acceptance [LOA] are unilateral, i.e. they have only been signed by the United States. These contracts will enter into force as soon as Switzerland has signed them in turn.
The Swiss government will most likely have to convince the electorate, which will be asked to vote on the F-35A purchase if opponents of the project manage to gather 100,000 signatures for a vote. A parliamentary commission has indicated that it intends to examine the "legality" of the procedure that led to the choice of the Lockheed-Martin aircraft.
| Safran
