The government is supposed to decide this month among the Eurofighter from Airbus, the Rafale from France's Dassault, Boeing's F/A-18 Super Hornet, or the F35-A.

Swiss voters in September backed the government's plan to spend up to 6 billion Swiss francs ($6.53 billion) on new fighter jets in a surprisingly close referendum.

"According to insiders, Switzerland can buy a larger number of F-35s with the budgeted 6 billion Swiss francs than would be the case with the three competitors. The F-35's simulator could also be an asset: it would allow the F-35 to carry out significantly more virtual training missions than the competition," SRF's investigative programme Rundschau said in a summary of a report https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/endspurt-kampfjetbeschaffung-amherd-will-den-ferrari-der-luefte-kaufen to air on Wednesday.

The defence ministry declined to comment.

The aircraft will replace Switzerland's ageing fleet of 30 F/A-18 Hornets, which will go out of service in 2030. New jets are to be delivered by 2025.

At least two of the seven Cabinet members would prefer a European fighter jet, SRF said, while critics have promised to launch a referendum campaign under the Swiss system of direct democracy against any decision to buy a U.S. fighter jet.

($1 = 0.9183 Swiss francs)

(Reporting by Michael Shields; editing by Jonathan Oatis)