Three years after signing up to purchase 36 F-35 Lightning II stealth fighters to bolster its combat capability amid rising security threats, Switzerland has decided to cut back on the order, citing a sharp cost increase.
The head of Switzerland’s armaments service and F-35A program director inked the procurement deal, which was expected to cost six billion Swiss francs (or around $7.54 billion) in September 2022. The procurement was decided in 2021, and the contract was signed only following parliamentary approval.
Political opponents criticised the purchase as a pointless “Ferrari” option ahead of the final deal, but the government pressed ahead nonetheless. Ironically, the procurement was finalized after assessing that the US-origin aircraft was the most cost-effective.
“The American F-35A is the right aircraft for Switzerland,” said Jacqueline de Quattro of the Liberals (FDP) party. “It’s the cheapest plane, the best from a technological point of view.”
This week, the Swiss government announced that it has instructed the Defense Ministry to purchase only as many F-35A fighter jets as could be bought within the previously agreed budget of $7.54 billion.
“Due to the foreseeable additional costs, it is not possible from a fiscal point of view to maintain the originally planned number of 36 F-35A. Due to the decision of the Federal Council, it does not require any additional credit, and the will of the people is met,” the Swiss government said in a statement.
According to reports, the Swiss government purportedly assumed that the agreed amount was the fixed procurement price. However, the US later posited that the assumption was a miscommunication and attributed the additional costs to inflation, commodity price developments, and other factors, as noted in the official statement.
The F-35A, expected to enter service in 2027, was expected to replace the Swiss Air Force’s current fleet of 30 “legacy” F/A-18C/D Hornets, set to be retired in 2030, and its archaic F-5E/F Tiger II aircraft, set to retire in 2027.
It is currently unclear how many jets the Swiss budget will cover, especially as additional costs related to the weapons package, maintenance, spare parts, training, infrastructure, and other systems and services would potentially have to be factored in.
While Geneva is cutting back on the F-35 purchase, it has acknowledged the need to strengthen air defense in accordance with Option 1 from the Air Defense of the Future report (2017) due to military considerations and the changed security situation. This report mandates the acquisition of about 55 to 70 modern combat aircraft along with a comprehensive strengthening of ground-based defences.
In addition to the F-35A that it is already buying, the Swiss government was earlier offered the French Rafale, the Eurofighter Typhoon, and the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet.
Separately, the Swedish Saab Gripen E/F was selected in a previous fighter contest that sought to partially replace the F-5 fleet with the purchase of about 22 units, but was rejected in 2014 following a referendum.
France had lobbied hard for Rafale jets, but Switzerland opted to acquire the F-35s. In fact, the French government allegedly offered Switzerland a financial incentive to purchase Rafale jets rather than US F-35A aircraft, as disclosed by a confidential document obtained by Swiss public broadcaster SRF, reported Swiss Info in 2022.
The then French Finance Minister Le Maire proposed, in a letter, recalibrating a Swiss-French agreement on taxing cross-border workers in favor of Switzerland, to an estimated CHF3.5 billion. In addition, he pledged France’s support for Switzerland as it negotiated a challenging period in its relations with the European Union (EU).
However, this did not influence Switzerland’s position.
With the F-35A now considered unaffordable, the big question is whether the Swiss government would stick to its commitment or scrap the F-35 deal entirely. Would it explore other jets, such as the Rafale or the Eurofighter Typhoon, or will it explore the participation in either of the two multinational sixth-generation fighter jet programs: the Global Combat Air Program (GCAP) or the Future Combat Air System (FCAS)?
Lockheed Martin is already reeling under pressure as Canada reconsiders its purchase, while countries like Portugal and Spain have scrapped plans to buy the stealth aircraft.
As far as the deal with Switzerland is concerned, the Pentagon has attributed the price hikes for F-35 production to supply chain problems, inflation, and higher raw material costs. At the same time, though, the higher cost per jet has also been attributed to tariffs imposed by the Trump administration.
With the imposition of Europe’s highest tariffs at 39% on Swiss exports, the United States significantly strained bilateral relations with Switzerland. This prompted widespread criticism from across the Swiss political spectrum regarding U.S. trade policies.
Switzerland’s seven-member Federal Council, the country’s collective executive authority, condemned the measures as punitive and expressed profound regret.
Undoubtedly the most costly combat aircraft program in history, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter carries a flyaway cost of approximately $82.5 million per F-35A unit. Export configurations typically incur further expenses, elevating the effective per-unit price to $100–110 million, excluding armament packages.
Additionally, operating costs, subsequent upgrades, and spares increase the F-35s’ life-cycle costs. Currently, the total estimated lifecycle cost through 2088 is a whopping $2 trillion, up from prior estimates of around $1.7 trillion. This is a total cost equivalent comparable to the annual national budget of Germany, the largest economy in Europe.
The audit also revealed that at least an additional CAD 5.5 billion would be needed to secure weapons and vital infrastructure.
It further noted that the National Defense’s announcement of the purchase was based in part on out-of-date cost projections, which did not reflect the changing realities. “We found that an important part of the increase in the department’s updated cost estimates of CA$27.7 billion was caused by global factors, specifically: rising inflation; fluctuations in foreign exchange rates, and heightened global demand for munitions.”
Meanwhile, a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the F-35 program, released on September 3, 2025, stated that the Block 4 modernization, which includes hardware and software upgrades, including the Technology Refresh 3 or TR-3, is now estimated at around $16.5 billion, more than $6 billion over original estimates.
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