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Switzerland has decided to cut an order of 36 Lockheed Martin F-35A fifth-generation fighter jets due to a price increase of roughly $610 million enforced by the US government, and following a contract dispute between the two sides. In a statement today, the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport said that “due to foreseeable additional costs, it is not financially viable to maintain the originally planned number” of aircraft, instead signaling that a “maximum” quantity of the stealth jets will be acquired in line with an approved 6 billion Swiss Franc (7.5 billion USD) budget. The statement did not reveal a revised aircraft figure to be acquired. “Talks held with the US in the summer revealed that Switzerland cannot enforce the contractually agreed fixed price for the F-35A fighter jet,” noted the Swiss statement. “The US cites increased costs due to inflation, rising raw material prices, and other factors.”

At the time the contract dispute initially emerged in August, a DoD official told Breaking Defense that “costs associated with the F-35 program, particularly for airframes and engines, have been trending higher than the initial estimates outlined in the F-35 Letter of Offer and Acceptance (LOA), originally offered to Switzerland.” The official went on to say that an “estimated $610” million price hike is the result of inflation, global raw material price increases and supply chain disruptions. Additionally, the DoD official added then that a specific note requested by Bern, labelled “Note 55” confirms that “the [Swiss] aircraft will be purchased using fixed-price contracts but clarifies that the price estimated in the LOA may differ from the actual contract price. Fixed-price contracts account for inflation and provide cost predictability but do not guarantee that the estimated LOA price will match the final contract price.” The Office of the Secretary of Defense deferred questions about the reduced buy to the Swiss government today.

As Breaking Defense reported, Switzerland previously argued that a fixed-price had been “abandon[ed]” despite “intensive discussions” between Swiss and American officials, leading to inflationary and tariff pressures that could drive up the cost of the order between anywhere from 650 million to 1.3 billion Swiss francs. Switzerland initially selected the F-35 in 2021, before agreeing a contract in 2022. Deliveries were originally slated to begin in 2027 and run through 2030. Lockheed Martin and the F-35 Joint Program Office did not respond to requests for comment at the time of publication.

The Marine Corps and Air Force’s Osprey fleets have had more “serious accidents” in the previous two fiscal years on average than compared to the past eight, according to newly published analysis by government auditors. “In fiscal years 2023 and 2024, 18 serious, non-combat accidents occurred involving death; permanent disability; extensive hospitalization; property damage of $600,000 or more; or a destroyed aircraft,” auditors wrote in a new Government Accountability Office report. “Rates of serious accidents were between 36 percent and 88 percent higher than each service’s average rate for the prior 8 fiscal years.” The report didn’t elaborate what caused accident rates to climb specifically in recent years, but GAO said program staffers attributed V-22’s higher rate relative to other aircraft as it being a first-generation tiltrotor aircraft and the plane’s “complex and expensive components, which, when damaged, result in higher accident classes by cost.”

GAO was prompted to produce the report at the behest of a House committee that sought auditors’ opinions on trends in Osprey incidents, the extent to which the program office and services have taken steps to identify and resolve issues and discuss how the services proliferate safety information. Variants of the V-22 Osprey are flown by the Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force. The unique tiltrotor aircraft combines the capabilities of a helicopter and turboprop plane which the Pentagon uses largely for troop and cargo movements. A series of lethal accidents in recent years have raised intense scrutiny by both lawmakers and outside observers of the plane’s safety record, and resulted in the Pentagon revealing several defects in the aircraft itself. “Osprey program stakeholders have not fully identified, analyzed, or responded with procedural or materiel mitigations to all safety risks,” according to the GAO report. “For example, program stakeholders, which include the Osprey Joint Program Office and military services that operate the aircraft, had closed 45 risk assessments at the time of our review, but had not fully responded to 34 known system-related risks related to the potential failure of airframe and engine components.”

In its totality, the report gives only minor credit to the Pentagon for more recent initiatives to comprehensively address the aircraft’s problems, but states the Defense Department has not done enough to ensure the plane’s safety and airworthiness moving forward. Government auditors made a series of recommendations to the Pentagon concerning how the program identifies, analyzes and responds to safety risks, establishes an oversight structure to ensure timely resolution and how the services implement process to routinely share relevant safety data. In a letter contained in the report, Peter Belk, acting assistant secretary of defense for readiness, concurred with all of GAO’s recommendations. “As a Department, it is our duty to protect our military’s most valuable asset, our people,” Belk wrote in response to one recommendation. “The Secretary of Defense will ensure the Secretary of the Navy, and the Secretary of the Air Force continually underscore the importance of safety at every level to ensure an environment where safety and risk management are essential and integrated parts of our operations.”

Navy Says It Remains ‘Committed’

The GAO’s report was not the only V-22 report to be released today, as Naval Air Systems Command released findings of what it called a “comprehensive review” of the aircraft. That review, originally ordered in September 2023, “reaffirmed the airworthiness of the V-22 platform under established controls allowing the continued safe operations of this critical joint capability.” The review identified “32 actions” to “improve saftey and readiness,” and Naval Air Systems Command leader Vice Adm. John Dogherty said in a video posted online the NAVAIR and the V-22 program office have “initiated clear, enforceable action plans to drive these issues to closure.” “The V-22 delivers unmatched operational flexibility for the Department of Defense,” he said, adding that through its mitigation efforts, the Navy is “committed” to the program. Still, the Navy report warned, “If the V-22 enterprise fails to take immediate and decisive action on the findings in this report, the existing risk mitigation timelines will increase the likelihood of a risk materializing, potentially resulting in catastrophic outcomes, including both fatal and non-fatal consequences.”