By Craig Hoyle24 November 2020
The US government
has offered Switzerland the option to locally assemble four Lockheed Martin
F-35As as part of a potentially 40-aircraft acquisition by the Alpine nation.
Switzerland’s
Armasuisse procurement agency on 18 November received responses to its second
Air2030 request for proposals on behalf of four bidders for its new fighter
aircraft requirement. Pegged at €6 billion ($7.1 billion), this will from 2030
replace an operational fleet of legacy Boeing F/A-18C/D Hornets and obsolete
Northrop F-5 interceptors.
Source: Armasuisse
Lockheed is
offering 36 F-35As, while four more could be assembled in Switzerland
“With that,
Armasuisse starts to work on the evaluation reports, which are planned to be
completed in the first quarter of 2021,” the nation’s federal department for
defence, civil protection and sport says. A type selection is anticipated
during the second quarter of next year.
Washington
submitted Foreign Military Sales programme offers based on 36 or 40 F-35As, and
also on the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, while Airbus Defence & Space delivered
a response on behalf of the Eurofighter consortium. Dassault is pitching its
Rafale for the requirement.
All four types
underwent in-country evaluations at Payerne air base between April and June
2019.
Speaking on 19
November, Mike Kelley, Lockheed’s managing director in Switzerland, said the
submitted F-35A package includes 36-aircraft, plus associated training and
sustainment services, along with “discrete pricing” for four additional
examples, to be completed in the country.
In its request,
Bern sought pricing information on 36 or 40 combat aircraft, and gave bidders an
option to also propose add-ons intended to “enhance Swiss autonomy at an
additional cost”.
Kelley says that
should Switzerland decide to host the final assembly of four aircraft, this
would be conducted at RUAG’s facilities in Emmen, using Swiss personnel. Also
including systems installation and test activities, he notes: “It does have a
significant cost to it”.
“Switzerland has
some very unique requirements for autonomy and sovereignty in operations,”
Kelley says. The experience gained from conducting in-country assembly of a
portion of the fleet would boost the nation’s ability to perform MRO activities
over an expected 30-year-plus operational life, he adds.
But regardless of
this decision, “For normal operations and maintenance, there will be no need
for the aircraft to leave Switzerland,” he says.
Also contained
within the F-35 proposal is membership of Lockheed’s global sustainment
programme for the fifth-generation type, and a deployed spares package
sufficient to support six months of normal operations.
Kelley says a
“limited weapons package” will also be included with the sale. “That package is
a little bit smaller than many people would expect, but that’s because the
existing inventory of munitions that the Swiss air force has for the Hornet
fleet are by and large fully operational with the F-35,” he notes.
“We believe that
when fully evaluated by Armasuisse, it will be concluded that the entire
40-aircraft programme and all the other aspects will fit within the approved
Swiss budget,” Kelley says. Deliveries of Swiss F-35As would be made between
2027 and 2030.
All bidders were
also required to provide information on direct and indirect industrial
participation projects equating to 60% of the total programme cost.
Kelley says
Lockheed has identified companies to work with in “all three language regions”
of the country, including direct work on Swiss aircraft. The company is
proposing to make Switzerland a “European centre” for F-35 transparencies and
canopies, and the country would also perform MRO work on Pratt & Whitney
F135 engines for its fleet. Lockheed currently has two suppliers in
Switzerland, “mostly in the optical arena”, Kelley says.
Lockheed is also
proposing establishing a national cyber centre in Switzerland, “with a testbed
for network environments”.
Airbus, meanwhile,
says that should it select the Eurofighter, “Switzerland will gain full autonomy
in the use, maintenance and application of the data from its aircraft”. The
German government is supporting its campaign, offering “closer political,
economic and security cooperation”, and expanded training between the nations’
air forces.
Source: Airbus Defence & Space
Airbus Defence
& Space is leading Eurofighter offer to Switzerland
“By providing
construction data and other important information, Switzerland will be given
complete and independent control of the Eurofighter,” asserts Airbus Defence
& Space chief executive Dirk Hoke.
In late September, the Swiss
government narrowly won a public referendum to advance the procurement of new
fighters and ground-based air-defence equipment, with 50.1% voting in favour.
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