Swiss May Reduce F-35 Purchase As US Squeezes Government

Switzerland may cut its order of 36 Lockheed Martin Corp. F-35 stealth fighters after failing to push through a fixed-price deal with the US government, driving up the cost by as much as 1.3 billion Swiss francs ($1.6 billion).

Negotiations between Swiss and US officials, including a phone call of Defense Minister Martin Pfister and his US counterpart Pete Hegseth, failed to sway the US to consider a fixed price, according to the government. Cost overruns will be somewhere between 650 million and 1.3 billion francs, the government said, another setback for Switzerland after the US slapped surprisingly high tariffs on the country.

Pfister said at a news conference on Wednesday that the government might buy fewer F-35s. But he added that the jet still had large technological advantages relative to other options, and that buying a completely different jet would take longer and possibly cost more.

“Without new fighter jets, Switzerland won’t be able to protect its airspace any more from the early 2030s on,” Pfister said. “So this is very much a question of security for the Swiss people.”

The minister also said that “from the Federal Council’s point of view, there is no link to the tariffs discussion” with the US. A connection could be made by Swiss officials, but currently this isn’t discussed, he said.

He added that canceling the purchase altogether was not likely to help Switzerland in tariff negotiations, “because there’s a lot of demand for these planes — if we don’t buy them, someone else will.”

The government said in a statement that the defense ministry will “examine various options in depth” by the end of November, including whether “current air defence requirements still correspond to the principles on which the evaluation of the F-35A was based.” 

“The discussions clearly showed that the USA is not prepared to deviate from its position,” according to the release. As a result, it must now accept a price per production batch that corresponds to the value negotiated between the US government and the manufacturer.

The latest tussle between the Swiss and the US government comes after US President Donald Trump slapped the highest tariff in the developed world on Switzerland, a surprise move that only heightened public criticism of the already controversial F-35 purchase. Lawmakers across parties have pushed for canceling the contract outright after the tariff decision.

Switzerland had for years taken the stance that the 36 F-35As it ordered would be delivered at a fixed price of 6 billion francs. In June, it acknowledged a disagreement with the US over the price and said it would seek a diplomatic solution.

The Swiss Air Force now flies older F-5 and F/A-18 jets that date to the 1970s and 1980s, and is looking to replace all of its combat fleet with advanced aircraft. The F-35A stealth fighters it has ordered, at a cost now set to reach as high as 7.3 billion Swiss francs, would be a major step up in capability, and a dozen friendly European countries also operate them.

While the F-35 is widely used in Europe, Lockheed faces an emerging sales challenge as governments in the region come under pressure to direct a greater portion of military spending toward home-grown equipment. Spain’s government shelved plans to buy F-35s because it clashed with a government goal to spend 85% of its defense budget in Europe, El Pais reported this month.

The jet has been a mainstay of Lockheed Martin’s bottom line for years. But criticism over cost overruns has flared this year, and the Pentagon sharply cut its proposed purchase of F-35s for fiscal 2026, while pouring more money into rival companies’ programs. The Swiss jets on order represents about a third of the number the company delivered in 2024.