Swiss Air Force: Government ignored air force over jets

Feb 12, 2012 - 12:48

The Swiss air force recommended buying French or European fighter jets to replace its aging fleet – not the Swedish fighters later chosen by politicians.

A confidential report published in the Sunday newspapers says air force tests in 2008 showed that Rafale fighters, made by French company Dassault Aviation, or Eurofighters built by a European consortium, were the best overall performers.

The cabinet acknowledged cost was a factor in its decision, announced on November 30, to order 22 Gripen fighters from Saab to replace the air force’s Northrop F-5 Tigers.

There was no immediate government comment on Sunday.

According to the tests, the overall effectiveness of the Gripen MS21 “remains inadequate to achieve air supremacy in the face of future threats beyond 2015”.

The report also said the plane “never reaches the ‘Meet Minimum Expected Capabilities’ in all type of missions”.

In an interview published in the SonntagsZeitung and Le Matin Dimanche, Yvan Perrin from the rightwing Swiss People’s Party and a member of the government security commission said Switzerland “could forget about” the Gripen.

“I knew the Gripen was worse than the two other planes, but I never thought it would be so bad,” he said.

Perrin said the worst thing was that the Gripen couldn’t even fulfil the demands of the air police.

“And so we lose our one and only argument for defending the plane in a national vote."

Opponents of any purchase of fighter jets want the decision to be put before Swiss voters. If necessary, the pacifist group Group for Switzerland without an Army (GSoA) and the Greens say they will launch an initiative calling for a moratorium on the purchase.

They had previously collected the requisite 100,000 signatures needed to call a vote on the issue, but had withdrawn it when the government announced that it would postpone buying the jets.

For his part, Maurer told a media conference on November 30 that the Gripen was by far the cheapest option of the three aircraft in contention. He put the total cost of the fleet of 22 aircraft at about SFr3.1 billion ($3.4 billion).

Since then Saab and Dassault have both mentioned lowering the price in order to get the contract.

The cabinet is set to rubber stamp the deal later this month. The dossier will then go to parliament, which will decided on the issue in either summer or the autumn.

Source:  http://www.swissinfo.ch