The development was disclosed by Switzerland’s public broadcaster SRF and confirmed by Urs Loher, head of armaments at the Swiss Federal Office for Defence Procurement, who said the financial redirection had already reached a “low three-digit million” Swiss franc amount.
The financial shift is linked to the US Foreign Military Sales (FMS) programme, through which all Swiss arms purchases are processed. Under this system, payments for different weapons systems are pooled into a single US-managed account.
Officials say this structure allows Washington to reallocate funds between procurement programmes. In this case, money originally intended for Switzerland’s F-35 fighter jet programme has reportedly been used to cover shortfalls in the Patriot missile system contract.
Swiss defence officials say the move has created significant budgetary strain, forcing the government to transfer additional funds ahead of schedule to cover gaps in the F-35 procurement plan.
Urs Loher described the situation as “very unsatisfactory,” warning that it complicates already tight defence financing. Switzerland’s defence ministry is now struggling to manage overlapping cost increases across multiple major procurement programmes.
Switzerland signed a contract with the United States four years ago for five Patriot air-defence batteries, with deliveries initially expected to begin this year. However, Washington later informed Bern that deliveries would be delayed due to prioritisation of shipments to Ukraine.
Following the outbreak of war in Iran, global demand for air-defence systems has surged further, adding additional pressure to production lines and extending delays.
Swiss officials now expect deliveries to be delayed by at least five years, with no updated timeline provided by the US.
In addition to delays, the cost of the Patriot system has reportedly increased significantly. Swiss officials estimate the total price has risen by up to 50%, potentially adding around CHF 1 billion to the overall contract value.
This brings the total estimated cost to approximately CHF 3 billion, further straining Switzerland’s defence budget.