By Cristina Gallardo


Switzerland said it would buy fewer U.S.-made F-35 fighter jets than previously planned, citing rising prices, and added that it might procure one additional air defense system manufactured in Europe.

The Swiss Federal Council said Friday that it would only buy around 30 F-35A fighter jets instead of the 36 originally planned, in a bid to offset an increase in costs due to inflation, raw material prices and other unspecified reasons.

With this decision, the Swiss government aims for the order to stay within the originally budgeted 6 billion Swiss francs ($7.68 billion), it said in a statement. Going ahead with the original plan of buying 36 F-35s would require an additional 1.1 billion Swiss francs, it added.

The exact number of aircraft to be purchased will only be confirmed once the U.S. government finalizes contracts with the manufacturers for the next batches of jets, the council said, adding that it had rejected the possibility of a bigger cut in the order because of security reasons.

The move comes months after Spain abandoned plans to buy dozens of F-35 fighter jets, which have so-called stealth technology and are made by U.S. defense contractor Lockheed Martin and a number of suppliers including Italy's Leonardo, Britain's BAE Systems and hundreds of other U.K. companies.

The U.S. Defense Department and Lockheed Martin didn't immediately reply to a request for comment.

The fighter jet market is one of the most competitive in international defense, given the amount of money spent and prestige associated with being able to produce and sell these hi-tech products.

Meanwhile, Bern confirmed plans to purchase five Patriot long-range air defense systems, made by Lockheed Martin and U.S. peer RTX, and said it is considering buying one more, potentially from an European manufacturer. This is intended to fill a 4-to-5-year delay to the delivery of the Patriots, caused by the U.S. decision to prioritize deliveries to Ukraine, the council said.

"This second system should preferably be produced in Europe," the Swiss government said in a statement. "Specifically, this means it would have to be a European system or a non-European system manufactured in Europe. This reduces dependence on a single supply chain or country and also ensures better availability."


Write to Cristina Gallardo at cristina.gallardo@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-06-26 1006ET