Patrouille Suisse F-5 Tiger II – Solo Strike

The Northrop F-5 Tiger II arrived in Switzerland in 1976 as a light, fast, and uncompromisingly functional fighter. In a country that builds watches and cuts through mountains for rail tunnels, it was the right aircraft: precise, economical, and completely honest about what it was built to do. The Patrouille Suisse — the Swiss Air Force aerobatic display team — flew the Hunter until 1994, then transitioned to the F-5E Tiger II. Six jets, red and white, performing in close formation at airshows across Europe. Not a peacetime decoration. A demonstration of real military precision by pilots who also flew air defence missions.

In September 2025, the Swiss parliament confirmed what aviation observers had anticipated for years: the F-5 Tiger II will be retired by the end of 2027. The jets are too old, too expensive to maintain, and insufficiently capable against modern threats. Switzerland is replacing them with 36 Lockheed Martin F-35A Lightning II fighters, with deliveries beginning in 2028. The Patrouille Suisse, in its current form, will cease to exist. A turboprop replacement — the PC-7 Team — will continue display flying. But the roar of those six red jets over a Swiss mountain will not.

This photograph was taken at Axalp — the Ebenfluh target range above Brienz in the Bernese Oberland — one of the most extraordinary military airshows in the world. Held on an active mountain target range with strictly limited attendance, Axalp is where the Swiss Air Force demonstrates live precision weapons delivery to an audience watching from the ridgeline above. It requires planning, often years of waiting, and the will to stand on a mountain in October.