F-35: Federal Council accepts six of seven recommendations on fixed-price case

The Federal Council has fully accepted six of the seven recommendations made by the National Council's Control Committee (CdG-N) regarding the so-called fixed price for the F-35 fighter jets. The seventh recommendation has been accepted only in part.

At the centre of the affair is a contractual clause that, according to parliamentarians, had never been agreed with the American manufacturers. The then head of the Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport, Viola Amherd, had instead maintained that the fixed price was guaranteed.

The government rejects, however, another accusation from the Committee, namely that the contracts with the United States were not read carefully. According to the executive, the impression that only the project manager examined the document in full is not accurate: besides the former head of armament, other armasuisse staff not heard by the Committee read the contracts in detail, and Viola Amherd had analysed the main passages.

More transparency and controls

The Committee's criticism will not be without consequences. The Federal Council is committing to making future arms purchases more transparent, improving risk management in major projects and strengthening armasuisse's legal service, the federal office responsible for military procurement.

As a further measure, on 1 October the Department of Defence informed the two parliamentary security policy committees of the evaluation criteria used for the contract. The committees had already previously been given the possibility of consulting the contracts.

It remains to be seen whether the announced measures will be enough to prevent similar cases. A stronger legal service and tighter controls are likely to mean a heavier administrative burden for armasuisse, on top of a purchase that already weighs heavily on federal finances. The case illustrates how delicate it is to negotiate arms contracts of this scale without an independent and systematic check of the most sensitive clauses from the outset.