Switzerland said Wednesday it was negotiating with France, Israel and South Korea to acquire a long-range air defence system, amid lengthy delivery delays of US Patriot missiles.
The announcement came after Bern in early March said it would examine the acquisition of an additional long-range surface-to-air missile system, preferably manufactured in Europe, to complement the Patriot system.
The Swiss defence ministry is “initiating contract negotiations with French, Israeli and South Korean manufacturers to acquire an additional system that would allow for the rapid strengthening of defences against long-range attacks”, the government said in a statement.
“Given the deteriorating security situation, Switzerland must be able to defend itself quickly,” it said.
The government said “a second system would reduce reliance on a single supplier and a single supply chain”.
Switzerland, which is not in NATO, had ordered five Patriot systems in 2022, with delivery scheduled to begin this year and completed in 2028.
But Bern suspended payments last year after it was informed of significant delays in deliveries.
Bern indicated Wednesday it had decided to stick with its decision to purchase the Patriots and would resume payments despite its estimates that the deliveries would likely be delayed by four to five years.
“Due to the security situation,” the government “cannot consider halting this acquisition programme without having a replacement system in place”, it said, adding that it would also “be difficult to assess the costs such a halt would entail”.
Consequently, “payments for the Patriot system are resuming so that the project can move forward with minimal delay and without excessive additional costs”, it said.
Back in March, the Swiss government said the United States had circumvented the freeze on its payments for the Patriot system by dipping into Swiss payments into the same fund but intended for its purchase of a fleet of F-35A fighter jets.
The government also said at the time that it now wanted to buy only 30 F-35A fighter jets, instead of the 36 ordered, after Washington last year hiked the price tag, citing high inflation and surging raw material and energy prices.
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