Saab Shrugs Off Swiss Gripen Vote

Mar 12, 2013 defense-aerospace.com

(Source: Saab AB’s Gripen blog; posted March 12, 2013)

The Swiss Vote On Gripen

On March 5, 2013, one of the chambers (Ständerat) in the Swiss parliament voted on the Gripen procurement. The voting was as follows:

- The Gripen contract was approved by a vote of 22-20.

- The Gripen Special procurement Fund was approved by 23-15.

To release the "spending brake" to allow an increase in the spending ceiling for the procurement also required a vote. This vote was 23-19 (1 abstention). This needed an absolute majority, or 24 out of the 46 parliamentarians. So it was 1 short. The vote will be taken again after the Nationalrat vote in June.

"This was a positive vote in the Swiss Ständerat. It was the first important step in the political process for the procurement of Gripen. The Ständerat voted with a majority for the procurement of the Gripen and for the Gripen Special Fund Law. The process now moves to the larger chamber, the Nationalrat, where the same points will be discussed firstly by the Security Commission of the Nationalrat and then by the Nationalrat in the summer session,” says Richard Smith, Regional Marketing Director – Europe Gripen Marketing.

“We have a great deal of respect for the entire political process that is now on-going and are very optimistic about the opportunity for Gripen in Switzerland."