The transport aircraft was included in the Eurofighter offer
Instead of buying its own transport aircraft, the DDPS wants to cooperate with Germany and use its A400Ms. However, Berne rejected Eurofighter's fighter jet offer that included making these planes available when needed, preferring the American F-35.
The Department of Defense (DDPS) doesn't want its own big carrier. This despite the difficulties of the evacuation mission to repatriate its Swiss employees and Afghan personnel from Kabul, for which Bern had to hire a plane from Swiss. He prefers to continue to collaborate with foreign partners. The reasons were given in a press release, quoted by the SonntagsZeitung. “Very high costs and probably low usage. In view of the urgent investment needs of the armed forces in other areas, this would be poor prioritization.”
Offer rejected by Berne
As the first partner of choice, the department appoints the German Bundeswehr, which has provided assistance to Kabul with its A400Ms. “At the level of the DDPS, an even stronger bilateral cooperation with Germany for the use of the A400M transport capacity by Switzerland is currently being studied,” he writes. This is what prompted reactions. Because, the use of the A400M and the possibilities of bilateral cooperation in the field of military air transport were included in the offer of Eurofighter combat aircraft, refused in favor of the American F-35. “It is now clear that the Confederation rejected what was probably the best offer,” comments the SonntagsZeitung .
The DDPS for its part believes that the decision in favor of the F-35 will not affect the possibilities of bilateral cooperation in military air transport. Critics are being heard, however. For the national councilor Priska Seiler Graf (PS / ZH), the German offer of airlift is thus “one more reason not to count on an American plane”. And to add that the DDPS would have been deceived by the dumping price of the Americans when it chose the F-35: "The many advantages of the European suppliers apparently no longer had an influence on the evaluation", she concludes.
Last week the PS, the Greens and the Group for a Switzerland without an Army (GSsA) launched an initiative to prevent the purchase of the F-35s. Opponents of the hunter, however, do not agree on the need for a transport plane, notes the Sunday newspaper.
The battle for the transport plane
As a reminder, the purchase of transport planes by Bern has been discussed several times under the Cupola in the past, the last times in 2014. A proposal from Geraldine Savary (PS / VD), then national advisor, was rejected by the National Council despite the support of the Federal Council. Just like the motion of the former State Councilor Peter Bieri (PDC / ZG) who had requested the acquisition of one or more transport planes for 2018 at the latest. Accepted at the National, it failed following a point of order from the former national councilor Oskar Freysinger (UDC / VS).