This will most likely go to popular vote.
I've seen this said a few times, but as someone not familiar with the Swiss system can you explain why an F-35 purchase might go back to a vote while a Rafale/Eurofighter/Super Hornet purchase would (presumably) not? I thought the whole point of having the referendum
before the selection was to avoid such an occurrence.
Question being what would be the mission of stealth fighters in Switzerland.
There is a misunderstanding of the Swiss requirement, with many (erroneously) assuming that it requires only a peacetime air policing platform. Switzerland underpins its neutrality with a strong armed forces (the idea being that no invader would want to go to the trouble as it would be too much like hard work), and as such its requirement is for a full-spectrum multirole combat aircraft (remember, unlike the earlier Gripen E selection which was just to replace some F-5s, the F-35 selection is to replace all F-5s
and F/A-18s). Now, whether they actually need this in the real-world may well be up for discussion, but then how many other countries that buy the latest military hardware are ever likely to actually use it?