It's not as simple. Don't forget that Politics (in a year elections) are chickening out easily.

It's an old tac called :" I step where it can hurt" :rolleyes:

AS a side note in a country (UAE) with years of history hving to deal with the mighty huge AWG-9/Phoenix, radar range is of an utmost of importance. Just re-read all the account of exasperated Navy pilot during TARCAP missions in GWI

You still don't understand it.
It is not about defense, Helofly already made this point.

- We just need a plane to police our airspace, f.i. keeping other countries from using it for their attack runs(think of Austria, Serbia and Croatia...).
Or check out planes with defective transponders.
Think of it as a police car, there's no need for Bugatti Veyron.

- Switzerland does have an Air&Space industry, which we would like to keep more or less up to date.
That is the reason why we assemble the fighters here in Switzerland and also require full technology transfer.
(The US manufacturer refused to offer for this reason)

Makes sense to go for the best bang for the buck, no?

Why not getting F-16s of the latest block then? Cheap and cheerful, plenty of manoeuvrability and highly effective for airspace policing.

Technology, a least a tiny bit...

And, c'mon, they really suck, it's enough if they Israeli and the turks rely on it.

S!

Gripen is not a bad plane. The engine is a license built GE from the F18 with more thrust and better survivability against FOD and birds trikes. Seen and compared both F18 engine and Gripen engine in Sweden.

If the Swiss have Gripens and F18's they form quite an opponent together. And add to this the topography of Switzerland + the Swiss pilots know their mountain passes etc. like their backyard. Anyone not familiar with the area would be under extreme strain to keep SA and not to collide with mountains etc.

Gripens are used by Hungary too btw..

lol seriously? The USAF is planning on using the F-16 until 2025!! Man, the Falcon is a great little multirole jet!

lol too - actually the have to keep in air because the F35 never got ready.
And again, the ground attack capabilities are irrelevant - for us.
Afaik they still produce some new F16s for NICs.

If the Tiger wasn't such bitch to maintain and had a bigger airframe with space for modern avionics I'd vote to keep them.

French cartoon
http://client.globecartoon.com/cgi-b...sin?id=1002182

Again, the production/assembly in Switzerland is a SWISS REQUEST.



Edit: Old joke, but cartoon is still quite funny.;)

Oh there is the right use of the famous Swiss army knife, Uh ?