There was a before and an after. Before Joe Biden’s visit to Switzerland, the Rafale was the favorite and the French camp seemed reasonably optimistic about the chances of the tricolor plane. After the visit of the American president, the F-35 suddenly became the favorite of Switzerland, according to the Swiss press. And by far. Did the United States put pressure on Switzerland even if its president Guy Parmelin denies it? “I reminded (to Joe Biden, editor’s note) that there was a process taking place, which had been fixed for a long time and that the Federal Council (editor’s note) would make its decision on the basis of the process currently underway”, he said on June 15.
The announcement has reportedly been postponed several times in recent days. According to a new rumor, the choice of the selection of the fighter plane (6 billion Swiss francs, 5.48 billion euros) would be announced on Wednesday. The Lockheed Martin F35 and the Boeing F / A 18 are in competition against the Dassault Rafale and the Eurofighter of the eponymous consortium (Airbus, BAE Systems and Leonardo). Another important defense contract (2 billion Swiss francs) should be announced simultaneously for an air defense missile system, for which the SAMP / T of the Eurosam consortium (MBDA, Thales) faces the Patriot of the American Raytheon.
American war machine
What is certain is that the French camp has seen in recent weeks a very brutal comeback of the United States in this competition that they really do not want to lose to Dassault Aviation and the Eurofighter consortium. “The American war machine is on the move”, explains an observer of this competition. And the American administration, including under the presidency of the Democrats, knows a ray of it to exert unspeakable pressures, via in particular the American extraterritorial laws, to tip the balance in the good side.
“Democrats are killers in this type of competition”, recalls this observer. Moreover, the Swiss banking sector can be very dependent on decisions coming from Washington – as we have seen with Swiss banking secrecy under Barack Obama – while Swiss watch exports are generally carried by the United States. It is up to France to re-explain the essential issues of the Franco-Swiss relationship. But is this enough in the face of the American superpower?
Credible warning signs?
These leaks in the Swiss press, which gives as the winner of the competition the F-35 of Lockheed Martin, were she organized to prepare the announcement of the Federal Council and the Federal Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sports? In a way, a preparation shot. Possible. The Lockheed Martin plane, which nevertheless has many technological and financial setbacks, would have best succeeded in the tests carried out by Armasuisse, according to the program “Rundschau” of the SRF and the NZZ, then taken up by all the Swiss media .
Swiss media claim that the American fighter jet is far ahead of the competition both financially and technically, offering by far the best value for money. Which already seems very surprising, at least financially. The financial ceiling demanded by Berne amounts to 6 billion Swiss francs (or $ 6.54 billion) euros. That is what the State Department proposed to Switzerland in September or almost: 40 F-35 armed at an estimated cost of $ 6.58 billion. Or Lockheed Martin sold off its devices to win the competition … In addition, theThe F-35 suffers from 871 software and hardware failures, which could affect the readiness, missions or maintenance of the fighter jet, according to the Pentagon test office.
Barrage of the pacifists against the F-35 and the F-18
In addition, the generally well-informed Group for a Switzerland without an Army (GSsA) indicated in an initial reaction on Twitter that it would launch an initiative against the F-35 (and against the F / A-18) if the Federal Council was to follow the proposed purchase of this combat aircraft. In May, the GSsA, which had succeeded in derailing the tender won by the Gripen E in May 2014, had threatened to launch an initiative to prevent this acquisition. “if the acquisition process were to experience irregularities or if the choice of the Federal Council were to fall on a US model“.
Moreover, he had felt that there was “a risk that Swiss fighter jets cannot be used to protect our airspace. From a neutrality point of view, this is highly problematic”. Last March, the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly had also reminded Bern with her Swiss counterpart that she knew that “Switzerland very attached to the principle of sovereignty, in particular of data”. If the F-35 is chosen by Switzerland, it will have to face a new game that is much more perilous. The GSsA will have to be put in the pocket. And that is not won.
