Press
In June, Switzerland will close its most important motorway and a route for holidaymakers from Germany to France for an air force fighter jet exercise.
Payerne – With a length of 410 kilometers, it is the longest motorway in Switzerland and a popular holiday route for holidaymakers, especially from the German federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria, to the northwest of Italy and to France, for example to the Mediterranean coast on the French Riviera.
Beginning of June: Swiss motorway A1 closed between Payerne and Avenches
We are talking about the A1 motorway, which begins at Perly-Certoux in the canton of Geneva, not far from Lake Geneva on the French border, and runs diagonally through the entire Alpine republic to St. Margrethen in the canton of St. Gallen on the Austrian border near Lake Constance. What’s more, the connection alone makes up a fifth of the Swiss national road network.
But what holidaymakers, travelers and locals alike should know: At the beginning of June, the A1 just west of the capital Bern will be completely closed for 36 hours. Over a length of almost ten kilometers for a spectacular military exercise by the Swiss Air Force between Payerne and Avenches.
A1 motorway in Switzerland: holiday route serves as runway for fighter jets
The closure will take place in the canton of Vaud, southwest of Bern and south of Lake Neuchâtel, from 9 p.m. on June 4th to 9 a.m. on June 6th for a maximum of 36 hours. That is, from Tuesday evening to Thursday morning, which means that at least no weekend will be affected for day trippers and commuters. What is behind it: According to the Swiss daily newspaper View The Air Force wants to check whether its fighter aircraft can also take off and land at improvised locations.
Simulated emergency landings with McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet fighter jets are planned in the event of technical problems or damage. “The security situation in Europe has continued to deteriorate in recent years, particularly with the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine,” the government, the Federal Council, announced on Wednesday (22 May). The army must therefore strengthen its defense capabilities, according to the capital Bern.
Motorway A1 (Switzerland)
The Motorway A1 crosses Switzerland in an east-west direction from the French border on Lake Geneva to the Austrian border in Vorarlberg. At 410 km long, it is the longest motorway in the Alpine Republic and passes through the major cities of Geneva, Lausanne, Bern, Aarau, Zurich and St. Gallen. The first section near Bern was opened in 1962 and the last section between Yverdon-les-Bains and Lake Murten was completed in 2001. German holidaymakers can use this motorway to reach the French Mediterranean coast, but also the Italian Piedmont near Turin and the Ligurian coast west of Genoa.
Swiss Air Force: F/A-18 and F-35A fighter aircraft in stock
“If possible, the air force’s assets should also be able to operate from decentralized, possibly temporary locations,” the Swiss government and army explained about the military exercise, for which the guard rails on the relevant section of the highway will be temporarily dismantled.
Regarding the Swiss Air Force: In the early and mid-1990s, Switzerland acquired a total of 34 F/A-18 fighter jets with the approval of both chambers of parliament. In September 2022, due to the changing security situation in the Ukraine war, Bern announced that it would also buy 36 new F-35A fighter jets from the Americans. This also led to a spectacular suspicion of espionage against China surrounding an inn located at the Meiringen military airfield.
Air defence of Switzerland: military airfields near Payerne and Meiringen
Meiringen on Lake Breinzersee is, next to the Payerne military airfield on Lake Neunburgersee, the second pillar for the air defence of the entire country with its approximately 8.7 million inhabitants. According to the often quoted Global Firepower Index (GFP) As of May 23, 37 of the Swiss Air Force’s 43 fighter jets were operational.
The fact that Russia under Kremlin autocrat Vladimir Putin attacked a European neighbor in violation of international law brought the decentralization of the fighter jet fleet back on the agenda. This means that individual fighter planes can also land on designated highway sections if, for example, the military airfields of Payerne or Meiringen are attacked. (pm)
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