Swiss Parliament Committee Allows Lawmakers To Approve F-35 Purchase

Swiss Parliament Committee Allows Lawmakers to Approve F-35 Purchase

The Swiss parliamentary committee on security policy on Monday gave the green light to the purchase of 36 US-made F-35A fighter jets for the national army despite resistance from the country's opposition

GENEVA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th September, 2022) The Swiss parliamentary committee on security policy on Monday gave the green light to the purchase of 36 US-made F-35A fighter jets for the national army despite resistance from the country's opposition.

"The committee of the National Council (the lower house of the Swiss parliament) has taken into account the report of the Control Committee of the National Council and believes that this report does not contain any elements that question the assessment procedure. Therefore, it requests the Council to agree on the purchase of 36 F-35A fighter jets by 17 votes to eight," the parliament said in a statement.

According to the committee, the Swiss authorities had no other choice but to buy this type of jets as it had showed the best results in terms of effectiveness and costs among four types of fighter jets the government had assessed.

The purchase of 36 F-35A fighter jets will be further discussed by the lower house of the Swiss parliament on September 15.

In 2021, Switzerland chose the US-made F-35A fighters for the army's needs. The deal provide for the acquisition of 36 fighter jets worth over $6 billion. The Swiss government said F-35s had "the best performance" at a "low price."

The Social Democratic Party of Switzerland and the Green Party opposed the deal by launching the Stop F-35 initiative and started collecting signatures to trigger the referendum. The initiative was signed by 120,000 people before being handed over to the government.

In late August, the Swiss government announced the impossibility of holding a referendum on the issue before the expiry of the US sales offer on March 31, 2023.