Swiss Reports Question Validity of Fixed F-35A Price

The Swiss Federal Audit Office and the National Council's Management Committee have challenged the fixed price of the F-35A, which was announced by former head of the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Viola Amherd. The two reports found that the concept of a fixed price in the contract had not been clearly defined.

The acquisition of 36 F-35As from Lockheed Martin for 6 billion Swiss francs was part of the Air 2030 programme to replace the Swiss Air Force's ageing aircraft. The US offer was around 2 billion Swiss francs lower than the second-ranked offer, according to Amherd.

However, the reports revealed that the publicly presented fixed price did not correspond to a lump-sum fixed price covered by a contractual agreement. A note among the documents suggested that a lump-sum price had been agreed upon.

The parliamentary work also addressed the conduct of negotiations by the DDPS and Armasuisse, which was criticized for not monitoring exchanges closely enough and not requesting information on all key stages.