The Swiss air force on Wednesday conducted emergency drills on a major highway in the west of the country, with American-made F/A-18 fighter jets both landing on and taking off from the roadway.
The “Alpha Uno” exercise saw a stretch of the A1 highway between the towns of Avenches and Payerne temporarily turned into a runway. The drill was the first of its kind since 1991 in Switzerland and comes at a time of heightened security tensions across Europe related to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Bern’s air force intends to operate from improvised locations around the country in the event of a future conflict. Other nations including Finland and Sweden conduct similar drills.
“It went really well,” Alain von Bueren, the first pilot to land on the road, said, as quoted by Reuters. Eight F/A-18 Hornet aircraft were slated for involvement, Swissinfo.ch reported ahead of the drill.
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The F/A-18 is a multirole aircraft, initially designed for use from American aircraft carriers. Switzerland currently operates around 25 Hornets. Bern intends to phase out its F/A-18 fleet in favor of U.S.-made F-35 stealth fighters, of which 36 are now on order.
The Swiss government said the drills were intended to bolster its security preparedness and underscore its concept of decentralizing military assets, making it more difficult for a hypothetical future enemy to destroy key equipment with long-range strikes.
Switzerland’s air force is largely concentrated at three bases: one in the west of the country near Payerne, one in the central Meiringen region, and one close to Emmen on the outskirts of Lucerne.
Officially neutral for some 500 years, Switzerland has long maintained an advanced military supported by national conscription for males and a subsequently massive pool of reservists. Despite its neutral status, Bern is largely aligned with NATO on security matters and cooperates closely with the trans-Atlantic alliance.
Russia’s war on Ukraine has pushed Switzerland closer into alignment with Western partners on security and sanctions, the latter particularly striking given the country’s longtime and lucrative role as a hub for discrete—and at times illicit—financial dealings.
The Alpine nation will play host to a multinational peace summit in July convened by Ukraine that seeks to build support for Kyiv’s blueprint to end Russia’s invasion. Moscow has not been invited to attend and has dismissed the event as “completely absurd.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that more than 100 nations and international organizations have signed up to the summit. President Joe Biden will not attend the event, despite repeated requests from Kyiv for him to do so.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.