Swiss delay fighter decision

The Swiss government has elected to continue with its plan to replace its F-5E/F fighters but has delayed its decision to 2010 in the wake of increasing community opposition.

The US$2.2bn (A$2.5bn) proposal to replace the remaining F-5s, most of which entered service in the 1980s, with up to 33 new Eurofighter Typhoons, Saab Gripens or Dassault Rafales was to have been made by the end of this year, but will now coincide with a report on the country’s defence policy due in the second quarter of next year.