USA denies Patriot to Switzerland. Bern not pays however the cash nonetheless arrives | EUROtoday

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Switzerland suspended funds for the acquisition of U.S. Patriot protection methods final fall after studying that deliveries could be delayed by a number of years. But the Swiss public broadcaster SRF revealed in latest days that the blockade is having little impact: the United States has actually diverted Swiss funds supposed for the F-35 fighter program to cowl the prices of the Patriots. Urs Loher, director of nationwide armaments on the Swiss Federal Office for Defense Procurement, confirmed the US transfer and informed SRF the quantity of funds already transferred. Due to American strain, he couldn’t reveal the precise quantity however, based mostly on what he mentioned, evidently it’s round 126 million {dollars}.

The United States is due to this fact circumventing the cost block by diverting funds supposed for Switzerland’s F-35 fighter program to the Patriot system. This is feasible as a result of within the United States, offers to produce weapons to international nations at all times undergo the US authorities’s Foreign Military Sales (FMS) Program. Within this program, the United States maintains a fund for all of Switzerland’s weapons purchases.

Whether it is the F-35 or the Patriot, all Swiss funds go into this fund. If a undertaking doesn’t have the required funds, the United States is allowed to entry funds supposed for different tasks. This is strictly what the American authorities are doing now: the funds supposed for the F-35 program are used to finance the Patriot system.

The diversion of funds has put strain on the Swiss Defense Ministry and led to price range shortfalls for F-35 jets. At the tip of 2025, the ministry needed to switch a number of tens of hundreds of thousands of francs to the United States upfront to fill the hole. These advance funds exacerbated the ministry’s pre-existing monetary issues, which was already struggling to finance authorised weapons purchases.

Despite the cost freeze, the United States is anticipated to proceed redirecting F-35 funds to the Patriot program this yr.