Swiss watchdog faults government over F-35 cost transparency

Switzerland’s National Council Control Committee has criticised the government over a lack of transparency in the procurement of F-35A fighter jets, concluding that no flat fixed price was agreed with the United States, SRF reported.

The committee said the negotiations were poorly organised and that the Defence Department’s categorical statements to Parliament and the public could not be justified. It also criticised the department for failing to manage the negotiations closely enough and for providing insufficient information.

The government chose to buy F-35A jets from the United States in 2021. Parliament approved around 6 billion Swiss francs in September 2022 for 36 aircraft after the price had been presented as fixed. It later emerged that the purchase could cost several hundred million francs more than initially agreed, while delivery would also be delayed.

In March, the government requested an additional 394 million francs. Based on information available in February 2026, the extra funding is expected to allow Switzerland to acquire 30 F-35A aircraft. The final number has not yet been determined because the US government still has to negotiate contracts with manufacturers for the remaining aircraft and engines from later production batches.

The committee began its investigation last July. It examined whether the price had genuinely been defined as fixed and whether officials had learned about possible additional costs earlier. It also criticised the fact that only a few people involved had read the full contract, meaning the outcome of the negotiations had not been adequately checked.

The committee said that, at the latest when the Federal Finance Committee raised doubts about the flat fixed price, the government should have carried out a critical review and renegotiated. At a minimum, it should have anticipated the risk of additional costs and included it in its risk management.

The report also found that the negotiations had not been organised appropriately. The Defence Department’s general secretariat assigned an external law firm to armasuisse, leaving the department’s internal legal service practically uninvolved in the contract negotiations. The committee said this conflicted with armasuisse’s legal role as the federal government’s central procurement body for military equipment.

The report accused the general secretariat and Viola Amherd, who was then defence minister, of not monitoring the negotiations closely enough. It said armasuisse received its first indications of possible additional costs in August 2024 and that Amherd was also aware of them. She informed the full Federal Council only after the United States had confirmed the additional costs in writing.

The committee also found that some documents had not been filed according to applicable rules, leaving the documentation incomplete. The first F-35 aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to Switzerland from 2027.