The United States has approved the potential sale of USD16.23 billion worth of fighter aircraft and ground-based air defence (GBAD) systems for Switzerland’s Air2030 requirement.
The US is offering Switzerland up to 40 F-35A combat aircraft, as well as associated weapons, equipment, and services, for an estimated USD6.58 billion. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)
Three separate State Department approvals announced on 30 September cover the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet and the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) along with their associated weapon systems, as well as the Raytheon Patriot Configuration-3+ GBAD system. The package of 40 Super Hornets plus weapons and other equipment and services is valued at USD7.45 billion, the same number of F-35As plus weapons and other equipment is USD6.58 billion, while five Patriot systems and associated equipment and services comes in at USD2.2 billion.
All of the approvals announced by the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) are related to the US offers for Switzerland’s Air2030s requirement to replace the Swiss Air Force’s current Northrop F-5E/F Tiger II and Boeing F/A-18 Hornet fleets, at the same time as procuring a new extended-range ground-based defence system capable of covering an area of at least 15,000 km 2 , up to a distance of 50 km and an altitude of about 40,000 ft.
Besides these US offers which must now be approved by Congress ahead of any Swiss selection decision, Germany is offering the Eurofighter while France is offering the Rafale combat aircraft and the Eurosam SAMP/T GBAD system. No pricing structure for these European solutions has yet been released into the public domain.
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