Switzerland Ready to Buy New Fighter Planes
24 Februar 2016 - 4:14PM
Dow Jones News
By Robert Wall
LONDON--The Swiss government is on the runway ready to purchase
a new combat jet after a previous plan to acquire Gripen fighter
planes made by Saab AB (SAAB-B.SK) was derailed by a referendum
almost two years ago.
Defense Minister Guy Parmelin on Wednesday briefed ministerial
colleagues in the Swiss cabinet on the preparations to acquire a
new plane. Under the current timeline, Switzerland expects to
decide what plane to acquire in 2020 with delivery of the aircraft
to commence in 2025.
Saab in 2011 won a competition for a new version of its Gripen
military plane to replace Switzerland's fleet of F-5 Tiger combat
jets. The losing contestants were France's Dassault Aviation SA
(AM.FR) offering the Rafale jet flown by the French military and
the Eurofighter Typhoon built by a consortium involving Airbus
Group SE (AIR.FR) , BAE Systems PLC (BA.LN) and Finmeccanica SpA
(FNC.MI). Boeing Co. (BA) dropped out of the running earlier.
The purchase of 22 new combat jets at a cost of more than $3
billion at the time was politically contentious, though. Voters
rejected the financing plan in a popular referendum in May 2014,
scuppering the purchase.
The Swiss government on Wednesday said the referendum, however,
never invalidated the need to modernize the country's air force of
54 F-5 Tiger planes, which are more than 30 years old. Replacement
of the 31 Boeing F/A-18s also in the Swiss air force's inventory
also is becoming necessary, the government said.
The F/A-18s will reach the end of their useful life in 2025.
Extending their utility for about five years would cost about $500
million, it said.
A group of experts is supposed to spend the coming months to map
out a strategy to lead to the eventual purchase of a new military
plane, which would be presented to parliament next year, the Swiss
government said.
The expert group, which will operate under oversight of the
chief of the Swiss military and defense procurement chief, is
supposed to assess the viability of the existing combat jet fleet,
replacement strategy as well as industrial considerations that
should be part of the program. A group of outsiders will shadow
their work.
The Swiss program is likely to be heavily contested again, even
though Saab has secured a lucrative export of Gripen fighters to
Brazil since losing in Switzerland. Dassault and Eurofighter also
remain keen on securing additional exports for their planes to help
bolster production after 2020.
Write to Robert Wall at robert.wall@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 24, 2016 09:59 ET (14:59 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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