ZURICH, March 6 (Reuters) - Switzerland now expects to purchase around 30 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighter jets, six fewer than initially projected, because of cost increases in the order, the government said on Friday. In December, Switzerland said it would no longer buy 36 of the jets as planned, and Defence Minister Martin Pfister said rising costs meant the government was requesting an additional credit worth 394 million Swiss francs ($505 million) from parliament.
With that credit, Switzerland now expected to be able to buy around 30 F-35A jets, Pfister told a news conference.
The Swiss government last year announced that the United States was delaying delivery of Patriot air defence systems to Switzerland in order to support Ukraine. Pfister said on Friday he expected that delay to be around four to five years.
As a result, the government is considering acquiring a second air defence system, Pfister said. Preference would be given to a system made in Europe, the government said.
($1 = 0.7807 Swiss francs)
(Reporting by Dave Graham, editing by Kirsti Knolle and Ludwig Burger)
