This year there are not many aviation events in my area, but with the withdrawal of the Tiger F-5 Jets in the near future I've taken one of the Patrouille Suisse Displays in my area very serious.
Giron de Jeunesse de la Sarine
Patrouille Suisse will end in 2027, if they will fly further on another aircraft type is not sure yet. No F-18 or F-35 Jet anyway.
After last years one-night visit in Appenzell due my biketrip from Fribourg to Schaffhausen it was clear - I've got to revisit this area again. So I planned one week in Appenzell, this time the Fully EMTB was taken with.
One of the booked visits was the training day to the Airshow Hoher Kasten, a 1794m high mountain above the Rhein River and at the border to Lichtenstein, Austria and Germany near the lake of constance. The aircrafts are flying around the peak, sometimes a bit lower for nice pictures.
Hoher Kasten: https://www.hoherkasten.ch/en/
Appenzell Tourism: https://www.appenzell.ch/en/home.html
In an surprising move, SAFRAN announced a 20% thrust improvement to the M88 engines on Rafale Fighter Jet
As far as I remember, Dassault Jet's like Mirage III, Mirage F1, Mirage 2000 and Rafale have never seen an improvement of the engine thrust in there service live. Once installed, nothing will be made - never change an working system.
Until now - the French Doubledelta Fighter will receive new engines called M88 T-REX with 20% more thrust and maximum compatibility to the actual M88 engine. The upgraded engine will be implemented on Rafale Standard F5, beginning in 2030.
First user will be the French Navy, with 12 Rafale F5 Marine in the 6th command for delivery in between 2030-2034. India will receive there first Rafale M in 2028, actually it's not clear if it will also be F5 standard - expected is an integration as fast as possible.
External changes to actual Rafales are expected on the air inlet. With the production of more electricity on the new engine, internal systems can be optimized and improvements on radar, electronic countermeasures and other systems are possible. The F5 version has a lot of internal improvements already, for example another wiring and more capable computers and systems. Rafales of the future will be the 'old' F4.1 and the new F5 type - the new engine can be used on the old version (possibility exists, but it's not planned for French Armed Forces yet) but some other modifications of the F5 standard are not possible.
The new engine will also be of interest for Gripen and Tejas - especially to cancel all US parts in those aircrafts.
When you travel - especially by bike or by foot and in a forest - you can bet that you've been seen. The other way around ? Sometimes you catch some specimen, and when the autofocus of your camera is not jammed then the small possiblility exists of an catch of the day 👏
Introducing - the Little Owl (Athene noctua, Steinkauz)
21-23 cm, 140-200g
Actually I'm in the international META-boycot (read more at the end of the posting) and saves quite some time online - enjoying more quality readings and of course time to check photos I've made. A quite interesting photobomb I've taken was during the dezentralisation exercise BERDEZA on April 01st, 2025 - an Falcon (bird) photobombs an Falcon (DASSAULT Falcon 900EX of the Federal Gouvernment of Switzerland) photobombs an train ... too good to not to share with you 💖
More pictures of the exercise will follow soon
And now to something completely different ...
Meta, the company behind WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and others), is cancelling fact checking instruments (and more, but for me this is the most important part) and the users are now really hard targeted by the misinformation bubble. Together, we - the users - can show that we want to be respected and be safe from fake news.
Yes, it's quite an adventure and my friends had some trouble to stay connected with me, but it's quite an relaxation to stop watching on the phone all couple of minutes when it beeps. So - join the worldwide protest if you are interested - everybody counts.
The Swiss Air Force is testing the logistical and human resources needed for two more Hornets in QRA duty for two weeks.
Media release - Published on 2. May 2025
The army is temporarily testing increased readiness in the air police service
Bern, 02.05.2025 — The Swiss Army is increasing its readiness for air police operations for two weeks. For this period, the Air Force doubles the number of permanently available patrols with F/A-18 fighter aircraft from one to two. The test is intended to provide insights into the human and material resources to strengthen the army's defense capability.
Against the background of the changed security policy environment, the Army is testing permanent take-off and operational readiness within a maximum of 15 minutes with two additional armed F/A-18 fighter aircraft over two weeks. The two patrols should be able to be deployed flexibly; both as independently operating F/A-18 patrols and as double patrols. The test is carried out by Airfield Command 11 from the Payerne military airfield and lasts from Saturday, March 3rd. May to Saturday 17th. May 2025. Its aim is to gain insights into human and material resources with the intention of strengthening the defense capability of the Swiss Army.
Permanently ready for security and sovereignty in Swiss airspace
Since 2021, the Air Force has had two armed fighter jets available for air police service (Quick Reaction Alert QRA) around the clock, seven days a week. In the normal situation, the two armed F/A-18s are mainly used for «hot missions» and «live missions». «Hot missions» are «blue light missions» that are triggered when an aircraft violates Swiss air sovereignty, seriously disregards air traffic rules or is in an emergency situation. «Live Missions» are random checks of foreign state aircraft that are only allowed to fly over Switzerland with a diplomatic clearance (Diplomatic Clearance). The Air Force carries out an average of around 10 «Hot Missions» and around 200 «Live Missions» per year.
With the specified command of PATRIOT Air Defense Systems and LIGHTNING II Combat Aircraft, Switzerland requested some Offset transactions in the amount of CHF 5.27 billion. The first 8 Aircraft will be built by Lockheed Martin in Fort Worth (USA), the 28 others in Cameri (I). 4 aircrafts will be final assembled by RUAG in Emmen (project name RIGI).
Press release - Published on 25 April 2025
Current figures on offset transactions as of end of March 2025
Bern, 25.04.2025 — The Offset Register currently comprises seventeen offset obligations in the amount of CHF 5.27 billion, which must be awarded by foreign suppliers to Swiss companies. Of this, offset transactions in the amount of around CHF 2.69 billion have been carried out as at the end of March 2025.
The Register, which is updated on a quarterly basis, currently includes seventeen ongoing offset programmes with a total amount of CHF 5.27 billion. Of this, offset transactions for around CHF 2.69 billion have been carried out up to 31 March 2025. Since the last update of the Offset Register at the end of December 2024, no offset obligations have been terminated.
Project “Partially mobile passive sensors to expand the air picture”
The offset programme “Partially mobile passive sensors to expand the air picture” has been added. This comprises an offset obligation of CHF 10 million. These are mainly direct offsets, although indirect offsets may also be realised. On the part of Swiss industry, RUAG AG and CALAG AG will be involved in the form of direct offset transactions.
Programme Air2030
With the F-35A combat aircraft, the offset fulfilment is at around CHF 845 million at the end of March 2025, which corresponds to around 32% of the offset obligation of Lockheed Martin. With the long-range ground-based air defence system Patriot, offset transactions in the amount of around CHF 410 million have so far been carried out with Swiss companies, which corresponds to around 36% of the offset obligation of the US manufacturer Raytheon. Both offset obligations must be fulfilled by the end of 2034. By then, the following allocation keys must be complied with as far as possible between the regions: 65% of the recognised offset volume is attributable to German-speaking Switzerland, 30% to French-speaking Switzerland and 5% to Italian-speaking Switzerland. The fulfilment and the regional distribution will be continuously monitored by armasuisse and discussed with the supplier.
Banking Register
The Federal Office for Defence Procurement armasuisse updated the Banking Register with the figures at the end of March 2025 in addition to the Offset Register. The Banking Register contains seven ongoing banking agreements in which publication is planned. Foreign providers, the contract duration and the current credit balance are listed in the Banking Register. In addition, the commissioned Swiss companies and the regional distribution are also shown. A banking agreement can be concluded upon the request of a foreign provider if a future offset obligation is likely. It enables foreign providers to fulfil up to 20% of a future offset obligation through indirect offset transactions in Switzerland in advance.
Some other Display Teams have published there programs - in Europe the Red Arrows and multiple German Air Force Displays for example.
On the other side of the Atlantic, North and West of the Gulf of Mexico, I recomand the Canadian Snowbirds ! Beautiful Display like some of the best european ones and without display brakes like others in the area ...
Payerne Air Base hosted two guided basevisits for photographers in February/March, 2025. Inscription necessary, and only one date of the two to each person. As exspected the visits where full in a very short time - but your webmaster was successfull for the second date.
The pictures during the day where perfect, weather was sunny, positions where great and quite a lot of activity. But the main party for myself was the nightflight activity from inside the fence at the marshaller area - a rare event for me because of my working times, the luggage to take with me and also a bit the distance.
Anyway, this day I was travelling without bycicle and had the big gear with me - including stativ, three camera bodies, three lenses and last, but not least, my Night Vision Goggles. Those where used the last few years only on animals, time to test them with Hornets of Steel. And yes - looking good !
Merci à la Base aérienne de Payerne pour cette possibilité 💗
With the new political decision makers in the USA, an old legend came back into the mainstream media...
Is there really an kill-switch in the F-35 Lightning II Combat Aircraft ?
No, but there are really some points or switches someone can mis-use. If he is not afraid of political consequences.
A good article about those problems on The Aviationist
Other articles of interest - listed without system:
- Solving data sovereignty and classified information protection issues with the F-35 ALIS / ODIN system (December 09th, 2021)
- Mit dem Tarnkappenbomber F-35 zu einer geteilten Souveränität mit den USA (June 17th, 2020)
- Norway receives F-35 mission data file from USAF (November 15th, 2017)
- Even After F-35’s TR-3 Software is Approved, Frequent Patches May Be Needed (May 30th, 2024)
- Mission Data System Files for Core Allies: The Norwegian-Italian Reprogramming F-35 Lab (July 15th, 2019)
- Trouble with the F-35’s logistics information system (August 05th, 2020)
- Norwegian F-35 spy on its owner: send sensitive data back to U.S.A. (2019)
- F-35 Logistics System Faces Challenges (March, 2018)
A few minutes ago the live stream has ended - watch it on the YouTube Channel of Pilatus Aircraft Ltd
Presentation of the Pilatus PC-12 PRO with a new Cockpit and the Safe-Landing-Button 👍
(screencrabs of the youtube-film)
As I am not a specialist about Business Aircraft, I am not worthy to write very much about this new evolution. But I think there where some very good engineers at it and Pilatus will sell many, many more of the famous Pilatus PC-12 aircraft.
