The Swiss air force has a relatively small peacetime active duty establishment, but has an extensive emergency defensive system that relies on many remotely-situated bases and underground mountain caverns that would be supported by a large number of reserve personnel that would be called to active duty in the case of war.
In the 1970s, Switzerland began a major fleet modernization program, The F-5E was selected as replacement for the Hawker Hunter in the air defense role with the Flugwaffe, freeing the Hunter to replace the deHavilland Venom in the ground attack role. 66 F-5Es and six F-5F two-seaters were ordered by Switzerland under the 1976 “Peace Alps” FMS program. The first 13 F-5Es and all the F-5Fs were to be supplied by Northrop, but the remaining 53 of the F-5Es were to be assembled by FFA at its factory at Enmmen in Switzerland as part of an offset agreement. 32 more F-5Es and 6 more F-5Fs were ordered in 1981, with the first example of the second order being supplied by Northrop and all the remainder being assembled by FFA. The last examples were delivered to the Swiss Air Force by March of 1985.
The Swiss are reluctant to release any details about their order of battle. However, it is known that the F-5E serves with Fliegerstaffel (Squadron) 1, 11, and 18 of Flugwaffenbrigade 31 Uberwachungsgeschwader (surveillance wing) that is headquartered at Dubendorf. The first two squadrons to form were Nos 11 and 18, which were established at Dubendorf in October of 1979. Two militia squadrons (Nos 8 and 19) transitioned from the Hunter in 1981. Tiger II aircraft from the second batch replaced Venoms operating with two additional militia squadrons (Nos 6 and 13) and replaced Hunters that were operating with a third surveillance wing squadron (No 1) based at Payerne, which allowed more militia deHavilland Venoms to be replaced by the surplus Hunters. The F-5s also took the place of the Hunters operating with the Patrouille Suisse national aerobatic team.
In peacetime, the only operational unit is the Uberwachungsgeschwader (surveillance wing) which consists of Fligerstaffeln 1, 11, and 18, the first two being based at Dubendorf and the last at Payerne.. The various reserve (militia) units are usually called up only for exercises and undertake the bulk of their flying from Dubendorf and Payerne along with the three regular squadrons. However, if war were to break out, all of the reserve units would be called up and the Flugwaffe F-5Es would be deployed to other bases, and the airfield brigades of ground personnel required to support operations would also be called up to active duty.
In 1985, it was announced that the Flugwaffe would get supplies of the Northrop AN/ALQ-171(V) conformally-mounted electronic countermeasures system for its F-5s, plus a new Emerson APG-69 look-down radar. However, this project was cancelled in 1989.
All Swiss F-5s were originally delivered as air defense fighters and were armed with AIM-9P Sidewinder missiles. Following the withdrawal of the Hunter from service in 1994, some of the Swiss F-5s were converted into ground attack aircraft capable of carrying and launching the AGM-65G Maverick air-to-surface missile.
Air defense assets consist of F/A-18 Hornet and F-5E/F Tiger II fighters. The F/A-18 pilots are all full-time active-duty professional military, whereas the F-5 pilots are largely reservists. It had been expected that the Swiss F-5E/F aircraft would be replaced by the SAAB JAS-39 Gripen, but in a May 2014 referendum the Swiss voters decided against the Gripen purchase. This means that the Swiss Air Force will probably continue to operate the F-5E/F until at least 2018.
Sources:
-
Northrop F-5/F-20, Jerry Scutts, Ian Allan Ltd, 1986.
-
F-5: Warplane for the World, Robbie Shaw, Motorbooks, 1990
-
Northrop F-5, Jon Lake and Robert Hewson, World Airpower Journal, Vol
25, 1996.
- Northrop F-5, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northrop_F-5#Switzerland
