Switzerland signs a controversial contract to buy 36 US F-35 stealth fighter jets at a cost of $6.2B
Switzerland has signed a controversial contract to buy 36 US F-35 stealth fighter jets at a cost of more than $6.2 billion .
"National Armaments Director Martin Sonderegger and the Swiss F-35A Program Manager Darko Savic signed the procurement contract on 19 September 2022 at armasuisse in Bern," said armasuisse, the country's arms procurement agency, in a statement on Monday.But a Swiss parliamentary investigation did not call into question the selection of the fighter.
The Swiss government and parliament also short-circuited holding a referendum on the plane's purchase despite enough signatures being collected to put the issue to voters, saying there was not enough time to do so before manufacturer Lockheed Martin's offer expires. But Swiss voters had already narrowly approved in September 2020 spending six billion Swiss francs to replace the country's fleet of ageing F/A-18 Hornets and F-5 Tigers.Switzerland joins a growing number of European countries which have opted for the stealth multi-role combat aircraft, including Belgium, Britain, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Poland.
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