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Swiss Air Force Fighter Squadron 17 disbanded at Payerne Air Base
During a ceremony held at Payerne Air Base on Dec, 9, 2025 attended by relatively few people because of the intense fog, the Schweizer Luftwaffe (Swiss Air Force) disbanded Fliegerstaffel 17 (Fighter Squadron 17).
The ceremony featured an ‘elephant walk’ involving nine F/A-18C/D Hornet fighter aircraft and did not include any final flight and flypast.
According to Scramble Magazine, the aircraft that took part in the elephant walk were F/A-18C Hornets J-5002, J-5004, J-5007, J-5012, J-5013, J-5017, supplemented by F/A-18D Hornets J-5234 and J-5236.
Fliegerstaffel 17 ‘Falcons’ and Fliegerstaffel 18 ‘Panthers’ will transition into the newly formed Fliegerstaffel 35, which will be equipped with the Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II as part of Armeereform 2026 (Army Organisation 2026).
F-35A order cut
Noteworthy, because of a price increase of roughly $610 million enforced by the US government, and following a contract dispute between the two sides, Switzerland has decided to cut an order of 36 Lockheed Martin F-35A fifth-generation strike fighters.
“Due to foreseeable additional costs, it is not financially viable to maintain the originally planned number” of aircraft,” the Swiss Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport said in a statement on Dec. 12. The statement also said that a “maximum” quantity of the stealth jets will be acquired in line with an approved 6 billion Swiss Franc (7.5 billion USD) budget. However, a revised aircraft figure to be acquired was not revealed.
In 2021 Switzerland inked a deal to procure 36 F-35A Lightning II fighter jets, dodging a proposed popular referendum in the hopes of receiving the new jets by the end of the decade.
The contract included 36 of the conventional takeoff-and-landing aircraft variant, due to replace the nation’s fleets of F/A-18 Hornets and F-5 Tigers between 2027 and 2030.
The first eight F-35As will be manufactured at Lockheed Martin’s facilities in Fort Worth, Texas, where they will also be used to provide initial training for the Swiss pilots. The remaining 24 subsequent aircraft should have been manufactured and assembled by Leonardo at the Final Assembly and Check-Out (FACO) facility in Cameri, northern Italy
Falcons
As one of three operational squadrons of the Swiss Air Force, Fighter Squadron 17 contributed to the security of Switzerland in the third dimension every day.
Fliegerstaffel 17 “Falcons” of the Swiss Air Force flew the Boeing (former McDonnell Douglas) F/A-18. Together with Fliegerstaffel 6 it formed Fliegergeschwader 11. The home base of the squadron was Payerne Air Base. Fliegerstaffel 17 featured a red falcon on a white ground with the black number 17 as its coat of arms.
The unit was the first squadron of the Swiss Air Force to fly the F/A-18 Hornet. In 2010, the F/A-18C with the tail number J-5017 received a permanent squadron painting. In normal flight operation the J-5017 was given priority to the pilots of Fliegerstaffel 17, but was also flown by other pilots. If the current F/A-18 Hornet Solo Display pilot was from the Fliegerstaffel 17, he flew the J-5017, if available.
Photo credit: Jim.van.de.Burgt via Wikipedia
