Fighter jets to use Swiss motorway as runway

Part of the road which will be occupied by the jets. Keystone/Jean-Christophe Bott

To prepare for an emergency, Switzerland will have fighter jets take off and land on a motorway next week. Eight F/A-18s are expected to be deployed, the Swiss Air Force announced on Thursday. 

“The test is necessary because all air force resources are currently concentrated at the three military airfields in Payerne, Meiringen and Emmen,” the statement continued. “This makes them vulnerable to long-range enemy weapon systems.” The air force is therefore focusing on distributing the troops and equipment throughout the country as quickly as possible. 

The exercise will take place on June 5. For this purpose, the A1 motorway between Avenches and Payerne south of Lake Neuchâtel will be closed from June 4 at 21:00 for a maximum of 36 hours. The last time Swiss Army fighter planes landed on a motorway was in Ticino in 1991. 

Adapted from German by DeepL/kc

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