History of the Swiss Air Force

During the first months of the war, airmen and anti-aircraft soldiers saw only sporadic combat; it was on 10 May 1940, when Germany commenced the drive into the west, that the Swiss army as a whole was mobilized a second time. At the onset of the campaign, German military aircraft first violated Swiss airspace.

C-3603-1 indigenous fighter/reconnaissance aircraft, in use from 1942 to 1952.

The first serious combat involving the Swiss Air Force began in June 1940. In six days of aerial battles, eleven German aircraft were downed, with a loss of two Swiss aircraft and three airmen killed. Following these incidents, on 6 June, the chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, protested the attacks, claiming that most of the German planes had been in French airspace and that the Luftwaffe had entered Swiss airspace only by mistake. Germany demanded financial compensation and an apology by the Swiss government. In a second, more pointed demand on 19 June, Germany stated that they viewed the air battles as a flagrant act of aggression, and if these interceptions continued, Switzerland would face sanctions and retaliation. The next day, General Henri Guisan ordered all Swiss units to stop engaging foreign aircraft, and on 1 July 1940, the Federal Council apologized for possible border violations by Swiss pilots, without admitting any had occurred. On 16 July, the German government declared that the events were settled. Engaging aircraft of the combatant nations was prohibited until October 1943, when strategic bombing of Bavaria and Austria by the Allies became an increasing likelihood.

In September 1944, the last Swiss airman died in combat, shot down by an American P-51 Mustang while escorting a crippled U.S. B-17 Flying Fortress to the Dübendorf airfield.[15] During the entire war, 6,501 Allied and Axis aircraft violated Swiss airspace, 198 of which aircraft landed on Swiss soil and were interned, and 56 of which crashed.[16]

Swiss aircraft also intercepted U.S. aircraft who were off-course, or whose crews preferred asylum in Swiss internment camps over German or Italian POW camps; they were then forced to land on Swiss airstrips. When the bombers did not cooperate or even fired at the Swiss (who were using Axis-type interceptors), they were shot down.

In 1944 a Luftwaffe Bf 110G-4 night fighter pursued a British Lancaster heavy bomber into Swiss airspace on the night of April 28–29. Engine trouble forced the German pilot, Wilhelm Johnen, to land at Dübendorf airfield where the pilot was interned. By international law, the Swiss had a right to put the fighter into service, and the Germans were concerned that Allied intelligence would examine its FuG 220 Lichtenstein radar and "Schräge Musik" gun installation.

The Nazi government quickly negotiated a deal in which the Swiss burned the Bf 110 under the supervision of German observers in return for a sale to the Swiss of 12 new Bf 109G-6 Gustav to replace combat losses. The new fighters were delivered in batches of six on 20 and 22 May. The new planes had serious manufacturing defects from the poor workmanship and production disruptions caused by Allied bombings, and after complaints the Germans refunded half of the six million Swiss franc purchase price. In 1947, the Swiss Air Force tried to purchase new replacement Daimler-Benz DB 605 engines from Sweden, licence built by Svenska Flygmotor AB (Swedish Aero Engines, Ltd.), but this was ruled out due to the prohibitive quoted price of 191,000 Swiss francs per engine. Such a purchase would have amounted to a total cost of over 2 million francs to re-power all 11 surviving postwar Swiss Gustav aircraft, plus the costs of spare engines, spare parts and any other repairs needed to bring them to an acceptable level of serviceability. [17] [18]

Swiss cities and railway lines were repeatedly bombed by Allied aircraft during the war, beginning with minor attacks by the Royal Air Force on Geneva, Basel, and Zürich in 1940.[15] Possibly the most egregious occurred 1 April 1944 when 50 B-24 Liberators of the U.S. 14th Combat Bombardment Wing bombed Schaffhausen, killing and injuring more than 100, and damaging a large portion of the city.[19] In reaction to comments by Swiss Foreign Minister Marcel Pilet-Golaz that the incident "apparently was a deliberate attack", American apologies were undermined by ill-advised statements made by Air Force commanders in London which blamed weather and minimized the size and accuracy of the attack. Although an in-depth investigation showed that weather in France, particularly winds that nearly doubled the ground speed of the U.S. bombers, did in fact cause the wing to mistake Schaffhausen for its target at Ludwigshafen am Rhein, the Swiss were not mollified.[15][20] Incidents escalated, resulting in 13 separate attacks on Swiss territory on 22 February 1945—the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt's special assistant, Lauchlin Currie, went to Schaffhausen to lay a wreath on the graves of those killed a year earlier—and simultaneous attacks 4 March that dropped 29 tons of high explosives and 17 tons of incendiaries on Basel and Zürich.

Swiss air defenses were incapable of counteracting large formations of aircraft, but did intercept and, on occasion attack, small groups. Since these were often aircraft crippled by battle damage and seeking asylum, resentment among Allied aircrew was considerable. The causes of the misdirected bombing attacks were bad weather, faulty equipment, incompetence, or excess pilot zeal, rather than malice or purposeful planning, but the lack of intent did not allay the sufferings and suspicions of the Swiss, and the embarrassment to the United States was considerable. A pattern of violation, diplomatic apology, reparation, and new violation ensued through much of the war, and grew in scope as Allied tactical forces neared Germany. It is still a matter of debate if these bombings occurred by accident, since U.S. strategic air forces had a standing order requiring visual identification before bombing any target within 50 miles (80 km) of the Swiss frontier,[15] or if some members of the Allies wanted to punish Switzerland for their economic and industrial cooperation with Nazi Germany. In particular, Switzerland permitted train transportation through its territory carrying matériel between Germany and Italy, which was readily visible from the air by Allied pilots.[21]

The incidents drew to a close only after a USAAF delegation appointed by U.S. Army Chief of Staff George C. Marshall met with the Swiss in Geneva on 9 March 1945. The Swiss enumerated every violation since Schaffhausen and demanded full indemnity. The Americans advised that the area requiring positive target identification was henceforth expanded to 150 miles (240 km) from Swiss borders, that no targets within 50 miles (80 km) would be attacked even in clear weather except by personal authorization from American commander General Carl Spaatz, and then only by hand-picked crews, and that tactical air was forbidden to attack any target within ten miles (16 km) of the Swiss border.[15] Even though these restrictions provided the Germans significant protection from air attack over a large part of southern Germany for the final two months of the war, they were effective in ending the violations and did not seriously hamper Allied prosecution of the war.

The Swiss government experimented in development and production of its own jet fighters, the FFA P-16 and the N-20 Aiguillon, but was not satisfied with them, desiring relatively simple aircraft that did not require extensive training and thus could be flown by militia pilots. These aircraft were developed in accordance with the doctrine of the Swiss Air Force that close air support of ground operations was its main task. The National Defense Commission (LVK), however, based on the experiences of World War II, also desired an aircraft capable of both "neutrality protection and raid-type operations", and the result was projects with inherent self-contradictions.[22]

Hoping that competition would lead to the development of effective but simple ground-attack aircraft, the government asked the Flugzeugwerk Altenrhein (FFA, or "Aircraft Factory Altenrhein") and the Federal Aircraft Factory Emmen to develop jet-propelled fighters. Although the Federal Institute of Technology had a world-renowned aerodynamics laboratory, both projects ended in fiasco, as a result of which the Hunter was purchased instead and introduced into service in 1958.

Both models were plagued from the onset by inefficient engines, but were capable of the short-distance takeoffs required by the Swiss (330 meters for the P–16, 232 meters for the N-20). After wind tunnel and engine tests, but before the N–20 could make its maiden flight, Federal Councillor Karl Kobelt cancelled the N-20 project in 1953, leading to much resentment of the government by Emmen engineers when the FFA project was continued. Eventually, neither of the aircraft came into production, although the wings of the P-16 were later used in the development of the successful Learjet.

The Eidgenössische Flugzeugwerke Emmen N-20 was a semi-tailless swept wing jet similar to the U.S. Navy's Vought F7U Cutlass with four engines mounted internally in the wings, fold-out canards to improve its aerodynamics at slow speeds, and a maximum designed airspeed of 1200 km/h, a remarkable velocity for an aircraft of the early 1950s. The FFA P-16 was a single-engine straight-wing aircraft for which a contract for production of 100 aircraft was awarded in 1958, but after the second crash of a pre-production model, the order was canceled. The aircraft had met all Swiss Air Force requirements for an STOL attack fighter capable of carrying heavy loads, and the crash was widely considered a pretext for the Swiss parliament to reverse itself. In addition, by the middle of 1958, influenced by NATO concepts, the LVK had redefined the Swiss doctrine of air power from close air support to counter-air operations. Further, the strategic concepts governing Swiss defense doctrine had shifted to a dynamic (mobile) defense that included execution of air missions beyond the Swiss border and the possibility of carrying nuclear weapons, for neither of which the P–16 was suitable.[22] In this time, the Swiss Air Force also tested a few from the Swiss industry-developed Ground to Air Defence Systems but didn't introduce any of them into service (see: 35 mm anti aircraft tank B22L, RSD 58 and RSE Kriens (Missile)). Also a Mobile Ground to Air Defence System based on the Swiss wheeled APC Mowag Shark equipped with the French Crotale (missile) was not bought for the Swiss Air Force.

Static display Mirage IIIS gate guard at Payerne Air Base

The acquisition of the Hunter had solved part of the Swiss dilemma of needing to support both its ground forces and to deploy an air-to-air capability, but while the Hunter could provide some counter-air defense over a battlefield and escort ground-support fighters it was not supersonic nor was it capable of defending Swiss airspace. In 1961, the Swiss Parliament voted to procure 100 French Dassault Mirage IIICs for this purpose and 67 BL-64 Bloodhound surface-to-air missiles from the British.[23]

The Swiss acquired a single Mirage for testing, as a preface to production under license of 100 Dassault Mirage IIIS interceptors, with strengthened wings, airframe, and undercarriage. Avionics would differ as well, with the Thomson-CSF Cyrano II radar replaced by the Hughes Electronics TARAN-18 system, to provide the Mirage IIIS compatibility with the AIM-4 Falcon air-to-air missile. The Mirage IIIS was intended to be operated as an interceptor, ground attack, and reconnaissance aircraft, using wing pods for the photographic mission.

Production of the Mirage IIIS developed into a scandal. Although the Air Force staff wanted to acquire the best available aircraft on the market, neither it nor the Federal Council had issued performance specifications. The concept of mobile defense had replaced static defense, such as the Réduit strategy of World War II, as the doctrine of the Swiss Armed Forces. The new doctrine required greater numbers of long-range aircraft and tanks in order to combat Soviet troops before they arrived near the Swiss border. The committee on aircraft procurement, which consisted of two military officers and an engineer who was employed by the army, originally proposed "at least 100 Mirages" to be employed in a multi-role capacity.

The parliament first authorized approximately 871 million Swiss francs to build 100 Mirage IIIS under license. But this procurement was soon crushed under massive budget overruns and the government asked for an additional CHF 576 million. The cost overruns were the result of fitting U.S. electronics to the French platform, installing hardpoints for moving the aircraft inside of the caverns by cranes, structural reinforcements for jet-assisted takeoffs, and other extras to improve the off-the-shelf Mirage IIIC.[24] The wish to procure the Mirage IIIS was also boosted by the possibility that the Swiss could acquire aircraft-delivered nuclear weapons, either from France or by producing them themselves.[25]

However, another major reason for rising costs was the need to develop a separate variant for the photo-reconnaissance mission when the underwing pods caused too great a performance penalty. The differences between the IIIS and the IIIRS (as the reconnaissance version was designated) resulted in only 36 Mirage IIIS fighters and 18 IIIRS reconnaissance aircraft actually built by the Federal Aircraft Factory at Emmen. Twelve were allocated to a reconnaissance squadron, three to a training group and the rest to two fighter squadrons. It was found that such a small number was insufficient to provide the multi-role capacity deemed essential for the new doctrine. The Mirage IIIS went into service in 1967, and the IIIRS in 1969.[26]

The lack of financial oversight and the apparent ease with which Federal Councillor Paul Chaudet and Chief of the General Staff Jakob Annasohn chose the Mirage (at the time, the world's fastest jet fighter) led, for the first time in Swiss history, to the formation of a parliamentary fact-finding commission.[27][28] As a result, parliamentary oversight on military procurements was improved and the military was given the organizational and professional structures to avoid such budget overruns. One Air Force officer had to retire, and Annasohn himself retired voluntarily in the end of 1964, followed by Chaudet who stepped down in 1966.[25]

A small contingent of Hawker Hunters deployed to Sweden in 1965 for training in air-to-ground delivery of ordnance, and intermittently thereafter, but annual training abroad for the Swiss Air Force did not begin until 1985. The use of Swiss air space for combat training became increasingly impractical as the performance of supersonic jets increased and created environmental restrictions. The Swiss modified their traditional stance of neutrality to seek other facilities, particularly among NATO European members, to meet their training needs.

The first annual training exercise was acronymed SAKA (SArdinien KAmpagne), first begun 3 January 1985. It was conducted at the Air Weapons Training Installation (AWTI) at Decimomannu Air Base on Sardinia, at the time the only such facility outside of the United States. Up to 18 Swiss Mirages and Tigers per year conducted air combat maneuvering training on its instrumentation range. Following its fifth SAKA exercise in 1989, however, demands by NATO air forces for the facility resulted in permission for Swiss Air Force usage to be withdrawn.[33]

When its SAKA exercise set for June 1990 had to be cancelled, the Swiss Air Force began a new training program at RAF Waddington in the United Kingdom, which it called NORKA (NORdsee KAmpagne). A newly built Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) range operated by British Aerospace provided it with a facility with which to conduct realistic combat training against other aircraft, and it began the first of twelve annual exercises on 16 November 1990.[33]

With the end of the Cold War, the probability of a ground invasion of Switzerland ended, substantially changing Swiss military doctrine and resulting in reduction of both the budget and the size of the Swiss Armed Forces. In Armed Forces Reform 95, and its supporting program Defense Guidelines 95, the Air Force retained its basic structure and organization, but became a totally independent service, now called the Swiss Air Force, on 1 January 1996. For the first time since its inception, subordination of the counter-air role to the ground support mission ended, and defense of domestic airspace was made its highest priority and primary task.[34]

In addition, the Air Force was tasked with gathering intelligence, air reconnaissance, and air transport. Support of ground troops, both doctrinally and as a practical matter, became marginal. These missions were strongly influenced by a shrinking capability, since its combat aircraft could operate by daylight only, its anti-aircraft artillery was obsolete, and the FLORIDA radar system had reached the limits of operational effectiveness. The retirement of the Hawker Hunters in 1994 ended its ground support capability, and a cut of one-third from the defence budget meant that plans for a second purchase of F/A-18s and supporting air-to-ground weapons (the reason the multi-capable Hornet was selected) had to be canceled, leaving both it and the F-5s in a strictly air-to-air role.[35]

Almost immediately the Air Force was reduced from 290 to 190 fixed-wing aircraft and had five of its twelve bases closed.[36] In 2002, the Armée XXI reforms continued the pattern of reduction, with bases at Mollis, Turtmann, and Interlaken closed, jets relocated out of Dübendorf (later planned for closing), and the helicopter base at Alpnach placed on the closure list. These closures left Payerne, Sion, and Meiringen as the only combat bases, Emmen as the main helicopter base, and Locarno as a training base. Buochs was maintained for war-time reactivation, and the theoretical plan for using highways near Payerne, Sion, and Lodrino as emergency runways was retained, although no pilots have been trained in their use since the mid-1980s.[35]

In 1993, a popular initiative that sought to stop the procurement of the 34 F/A-18 Hornets (chosen by the Federal Council in 1988) to replace the Mirages was defeated by a majority of 57%. Two versions, a twin-seat D-model and a single-seat C, were built in the United States and flight-tested in 1996, delivered in December 1996 and 1998 respectively. Thirty-two production kits were shipped to Switzerland for assembly, with the first in service in January 1997 and the final aircraft delivered in December 1999. One crashed during workups, leaving 28 C's and 5 Ds assigned to three squadrons. Seven instructor pilots were trained at NAS Cecil Field, Florida, and the United States Navy also provided two instructors on exchange to train Hornet pilots.

In 1990, the Swiss Air Force acquired 20 British Aerospace Hawk Mk.66s to provide an interim solution to its jet training requirements, but these were retired in 2003 and sold to Finland. The Mirages ended their service in the second half of the 1990s, with the last Mirage fighter retired in 1999 and the final Mirage reconnaissance jet in December 2003.

Since 1993 the Swiss Air Force has faced continuing challenges from left-wing and environmental lobbies regarding its existence, policy, and operations. On 24 February 2008, an initiative to ban the training flights of jet aircraft over tourist areas of Switzerland (virtually the entire nation) to reduce the impact of noise pollution, which had been publicly debated since the delivery of the F/A-18 (which referendum initiator Franz Weber termed "oversized, ineffective, and ruinous"), was defeated by a vote of 68.1%.[37]

When the Hunters were retired in 1994, the air force made an effort to provide some F-5 Tigers with an air-to-ground capability but this proved prohibitively expensive, and plans to replace the fleet after 2010 with a fourth-generation jet fighter were begun. A dozen F-5s were leased in 2004 to Austria for four years (while it awaited the delivery of new Eurofighters), and the Swiss maintenance of its fleet was such that they were considered "low-hours" by the U.S. Navy, which purchased 36 in 2006–2008 to replace its aging Aggressor aircraft. This effectively reduced the F-5 inventory by half, and proposals to replace the Tigers with JAS-39 Gripens, Rafales, EADS Eurofighter Typhoons, or the advanced Super Hornet variant of the FA-18 came under consideration.[38] In the end the JAS-39 Gripen was chosen because it was the cheapest candidate. The purchase was rejected by 53.4% of Swiss voters in a national referendum on 18 May 2014.[39]

Overseas training continued with the annual NORKA exercises through 2001, when NORKA was discontinued in favor of NOMAD (North Sea Operations for Mutual Air Defence), a multi-nation ACMI training exercise held annually at RAF Waddington,[40] which Swiss contingents began attending in 2000. Training in night operations, called NIGHTWAY, began in 1998 at Ørland MAS, Norway, and continued annually except for 1999 and 2005.[33] Training abroad with NATO nations reflected the changing realities of neutrality, also reflected in 1997 by the discontinuation of the Swiss "Bambini Code" in favor of the NATO Brevity Code.[41] The first female Swiss fighter pilot, 1st Lt. Fanny Cholet, was cleared to fly the F/A-18 in February 2019.[42]