According to the SonntagsZeitung paperExternal link, a sum of $40 million has been set aside in the 2020 “Presidential budget” for the procurement of the Swiss planes. Armasuisse confirmed that talks took place in summer but a contract has yet to be signed. The American defence budget has to first be approved by Congress before the deal can go through. Delivery is expected to be in 2021.
The Swiss F5 Tiger jets are around 35 years old and cost around half a million Swiss francs a year to remain idle. A few years ago the US Navy had purchased 44 Tiger jets and repurposed them to play the role of enemy planes during training exercises.
Switzerland had purchased a total of 100 Tigers from the US of which 53 remain. Of these only 26 are operational but only because the Swiss voted against procuring new Gripen fighter jets in 2014.
A Swiss Air Force Tiger F-5E is unloaded from a US Air Force C-5A Galaxy at Emmen military airfield in canton Lucerne in September 1978. The largest transport aircraft in the world transported six more Tiger aircraft assembled in the US to Switzerland. (Keystone)
Keystone
The first 30 Tiger F-5A fighter jets were handed over to the Swiss Air Force at an official ceremony on October 30, 1978, at the Meiringen-Unterbach military airfield in canton Bern. The pilots lined up in front of the new aircraft. (Keystone)
Keystone
Two Tiger jets prepare to take off at the Unterbach-Meiringen airfield in January 2008. (Peter Schneider/Keystone)
Peter Schneider/Keystone
A Swiss Air Force F-5E Tiger lands in Payerne after a radioactivity measurements flight in March 2011. An aerosol collector is located under each wing and filters the air to collect fine particles at an altitude of 6,000 metres. (Dominic Favre/Keystone)
Dominic Favre/Keystone
A Swiss Air Force F-5 being prepared for a military training flight at the Buochs airfield in canton Nidwalden in May 2014. (Urs Flüeler/Keystone)
Urs Flüeler/Keystone
Northop F-5E Tiger jets from the Swiss Air Force’s Patrouille Suisse aerobatic team perform during the 2011 Sion airshow. (Laurent Gillieron/Keystone)
Laurent Gillieron/Keystone
Two F-5 Tiger aircraft from Patrouille Suisse on a training session before the 2017 Sion airshow. (Christian Merz/Keystone)
Christian Merz/Keystone
To celebrate the 50th display season of the RAF’s Red Arrows, the nine Red Arrows Hawk T1 jets were joined on July 14, 2014, by Breitling Jet Team number one pilot, Patrouille de France’s Alpha Jet, Patrouille Suisse’s Northrop F-5E Tiger II jet and Frecce Tricolori’s Aermacchi MB-339 jet. The 13 aircraft took part in a flypast at the Royal International Air Tattoo at RAF Fairford in Gloucester. (Katsuhiko Tokunaga/AP/Keystone)
Katsuhiko Tokunaga/Keystone
Six Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tigers perform their grand finale against the backdrop of the Bernese Alps at the Swiss Air Force’s traditional airshow in October 2003. (Gaetan Bally/Keystone)
Geatan Bally/Keystone
A Swiss Air Force Tiger F-5 fighter being transported from Emmen to the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne in March 2010. Fuselage and wings were transported later. (Sigi Tischler/Keystone)
Sigi Tischler/Keystone
Patrouille Suisse practise a formation above Emmen in F-5 Tiger 2 jets in June 2006. (Alessandro Della Bella/Keystone)
Alessandro Della Bella/Keystone
Patrouille Suisse’s F-5 Tiger jets and a Swiss International Air Lines CS300 in action in front of a member of a traditional Swiss guards company on Swiss National Day 2019. (Jean-Christophe Bott/Keystone)
Jean-christophe Bott/Keystone
Switzerland is currently looking to procure new fighter jets and has a budget of CHF6 billion. The air force is currently evaluating four offers from French companies Airbus and Dassault, as well as Boeing and Lockheed Martin from the United States. The Swedish company Saab was forced to withdraw from the competition.
The Swiss government argues the country’s ageing fleet of F-5 Tigers and F/A-18s has to be replaced by 2030 at the latest to protect the country’s airspace and its security.
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