24-hour operations, which means flying
almost unrestricted is essential to keep pilots
proficient on the F/A-18. For these reasons
Swiss Hornets deployed to RAF Lossiemouth
in Scotland last November because Norway
is rebuilding the base at Ørland to accept
the F-35. The Scottish base proved to
be to the Swiss Air Force’s liking and it is
looking to make it the destination for future
deployments of this type.
Parallel to the international operations,
Switzerland’s pilots dropped their domestic
‘Bambini-Code’ radio communications
and adopted standard NATO terminology
to ensure a seamless integration with the
European partners, together with measuring
altitude in feet instead of metres.QRA COVERAGE
Traditionally Quick Reaction Alert (QRA)
had matched regular air force hours of 0800
to 1700 Monday to Friday due to a lack of
personnel and it not being deemed a high
priority and so the money necessary for
complete coverage not being allocated. QRA
is now mounted 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year. Switzerland also cooperates with
Austria, France, Germany and Italy on QRA
matters.Two Hornets are held on alert, normally
at Payerne, ready to scramble against any
unidentified aircraft about to enter Swiss
airspace. In practice, this is not always easy
to accomplish, as a north to south transit
over the country can take fewer than 15-20
minutes, leaving little time to scramble,
intercept and identify before an intruder
has left the country’s airspace. Bilateral
agreements are in place to allow cross-
border policing to report on suspect flights.
A recent attempt by the air force to re-
introduce ground attack doctrine using the
Hornet was discussed, but then cancelled
by Parliament in Bern. The ‘A’ (attack) part
of the Hornet’s name will, therefore, remain
dormant for the foreseeable future, even
though the F/A-18 was purchased as a multi-
role (fighter/attack) aircraft.
Switzerland has no ground-attack
ordnance, the Hunter’s AGM-65B Maverick
missiles and BL-755 cluster bombs long
having been eliminated and scrapped in the
1990s.Initially, no new missiles were ordered and
the F/A-18 fleet flew with existing AIM-9P
Sidewinders. A $104m order to Raytheon in
2002 brought in the AIM-9X Sidewinder. The
package included 45 CATM-9X (captive air
training missiles).
Raytheon was also contracted to sell
the AIM-120C-7 AMRAAM medium-range
missile in 2010, under a $358m contract,
which saw various batches of the missiles
being exported, the latest delivery arriving in
Payerne as recently as 2016.
The Hornet’s M61 20mm cannon (the
original design dates to the 1950s) is still
regularly used at the ranges at Axalp, Forel
(Lake Neuchâtel) and an air range over
Dammastock.UPGRADES
The first major upgrade for Switzerland’s
F/A-18s was the introduction of Link 16,
from 2005 onwards, which is a tactical
data exchange network allowing aircraft,
as well as ground forces and radar sites,
to exchange data. Link 16 can easily be
recognised by the addition of five antenna
strips ahead of the cockpit.
In 2008, Swiss Hornets underwent a
$535m upgrade (Upgrade 21), which included
the purchase of 20 Raytheon ASQ-228
ATFLIR targeting pods as well as LR-67(V)3
radar warning suites, plus display updates
and voice data and video recording avionics.
The single Armasuisse-operated (federal
defence procurement agency) Hornet C,
J-5001, spent nine months in the US at
NAS Patuxent River, Maryland, validating
the Upgrade 21 improvements including
live firing of both the AIM-9X and AIM-120
AMRAAM missiles.
The Hornet fleet is hard-worked because
of attrition and the failure to replace other
aircraft in the air force’s inventory.
A single C model and three D models
have been lost through accidents and the
Swiss public, in a May 2014 referendum,
rejected the purchase of the Saab JAS-3930 Aviation News incorporating Jets March 2018Swiss Air Force F/A-18D J-5234 at Dübendorf with an AIM-9P training round on the starboard
wing tip rail. The Hornets were moved out of this air base in 2005.Two C model Hornets scrambled from
the alert station at Payerne to perform
an intercept over the Alps, in the east of
Switzerland, just before sunset. The AIM-120
AMRAAM and AIM-9X missiles are live.28-33_swiss_hornetsDC.mfDC.indd 30 05/02/2018 12:56