Switzerland signs deal to buy 36 F-35A fighter jets from US

By Omer Faruk Yildiz

GENEVA (AA) - The Swiss government on Monday signed an agreement to buy 36 F-35A fighter jets from the US.

The deliveries of the F-35As will start in 2027 and continue until 2030, a Swiss government statement said, adding that the newly procured fighter planes will replace the existing F/A-18 Hornets and F-5 Tiger jets in the Swiss Air Force.

In 2020, the proposal to modernize the army was accepted by a majority of votes in the referendum, but it was not specified which countries' war materials would be purchased as part of the modernization.

After the referendum, the government signed a preliminary agreement worth 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.2 billion) to buy 36 F-35As from the US.

Opposition parties had called for taking the issue to a public vote because there was no indication in the 2020 referendum that the F-35As would be procured.

*Writing by Gozde Bayar in Ankara