Armed Forces Patrouille Suisse was founded 60 years ago
The Swiss aerobatic team Patrouille Suisse celebrates its 60th birthday on Thursday. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
The Patrouille Suisse at an air show in Payerne VD in 2004 (archive photo)
Image: Keystone
Performance at an air show in Emmen in September 2006 (archive photo)
Image: Keystone
Patrouille Suisse air show together with an Airbus A320 before the men's downhill race at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in St. Moritz GR 2017 (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The Department of Defense wants to end F-5 operations by the end of 2027. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The Patrouille Suisse has been flying the F-5 Tiger since 1995. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Patrouille Suisse was founded as the flagship of the Swiss Air Force on August 22, 1964 (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The Swiss aerobatic team Patrouille Suisse celebrates its 60th birthday on Thursday. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
The Patrouille Suisse at an air show in Payerne VD in 2004 (archive photo)
Image: Keystone
Performance at an air show in Emmen in September 2006 (archive photo)
Image: Keystone
Patrouille Suisse air show together with an Airbus A320 before the men's downhill race at the Alpine Skiing World Championships in St. Moritz GR 2017 (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The Department of Defense wants to end F-5 operations by the end of 2027. (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The Patrouille Suisse has been flying the F-5 Tiger since 1995. (archive picture)
Image: Keystone
Patrouille Suisse was founded as the flagship of the Swiss Air Force on August 22, 1964 (archive image)
Image: Keystone
The official Swiss aerobatic team Patrouille Suisse is celebrating its 60th anniversary on August 22. As an ambassador for the Swiss Air Force, the flying squadron has been thrilling audiences at home and abroad with its demonstrations for decades. But its future is uncertain.
Patrouille Suisse was founded on August 22, 1964 as a formation of four Hunter fighter planes, as the "Aargauer Zeitung" wrote in April. In view of the Expo 64 national exhibition in Lausanne and the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Swiss Air Force, training with the Hunter double patrol was intensified.
The aerial acrobats quickly made a name for themselves and were promoted by the army, which knew how to use their value for marketing purposes, as the media report went on to say. The media enthusiastically followed the undertaking from the very beginning.
Patrouille Suisse has been flying the F-5 Tiger since 1995. Six supersonic fighter aircraft are deployed for the demonstrations, as Patrouille Suisse writes on its website. In contrast to many other demonstration teams, the aerobatic team uses a fighter aircraft that is also actively deployed in the Swiss Air Force.
Propeller aircraft in the future?
The future of the aerobatic team is a hotly debated topic in politics. In mid-June, the National Council rejected a postulate from its security policy committee. This demanded a report from the national government on the possible continued operation of the aircraft.
The Department of Defense, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) wants to cease F-5 operations by the end of 2027. Due to the current financial situation, the army is consistently focusing its money on new systems, it said in a statement.
According to an article in the NZZ newspaper in June, the Tiger costs CHF 30 million a year. Additional investments of nine million Swiss francs would be necessary for longer operation. In addition, personnel and fuel costs would amount to 14 million francs.
A motion by SVP member of the Council of States Werner Salzmann (BE) is currently still pending. It calls for the Patrouille Suisse to be retained as a jet team. According to the politician, the Patrouille Suisse is not a hobby, but strengthens Switzerland's defense capability. It makes an important contribution to deterring potential enemies. In addition, the F-5 aircraft provides important services in the training of pilots, including as a target display for training purposes.
The abolition of the F-5 aircraft means the end of Patrouille Suisse in its current form. "Patrouille Suisse can no longer fly on a jet aircraft if the Tiger is no more," said Air Force Commander Peter Merz to Radio SRF in March.
It is not yet clear what future air shows will look like. One possible option would be to use the existing PC-7 team on propeller aircraft.
Aerobatics as a sideline
A large proportion of the F-5 Tigers procured in the 1970s and 1980s have already been sold. A few years ago, the US naval forces bought 44 F-5 Tigers from Switzerland, which had originally been used by the Swiss Air Force for space protection.
The Swiss Armed Forces currently still have 25 F-5 Tigers in their inventory, 18 of which are currently in service. According to the Federal Armaments Office Armasuisse, they relieve the F/A-18 Hornet fleet and are used for target presentation, training purposes, as a towing aircraft and for test flights.
Around half of the F-5 Tigers are used by Patrouille Suisse for flight demonstrations. The pilots of the aerobatics squadron come from one of the F/A-18 Hornet front squadrons, as Patrouille Suisse writes. They carry out their duties as display pilots as a secondary activity to their contribution to maintaining air sovereignty and ensuring the air police service over Switzerland. Patrouille Suisse is supervised by a technical crew.
SDA
