- The Swiss Army’s new F-35 fighter jet is significantly louder than its predecessor.
- The F-35 makes up to five decibels more noise during takeoff, landing and taxiing.
- This is shown by acoustic measurements of test flights at military airfields.
- The Swiss army wants to compensate for the greater noise for residents living near the military airfields by reducing aircraft movements.
In the last few days, the Defense Department DDPS has informed the local authorities and interest groups at the Payerne, Meiringen and Emmen military airfields about the results of this acoustic measurement by Empa. According to these measurements from 2019, which have now been published for the first time, the F-35 is 3 decibels louder during takeoff than the F/A-18 currently in use.
The new jet is five decibels louder when taxiing on the ground, and up to one decibel more noisy when landing. During take-off, a significantly larger area around the airports will be exposed to critical noise levels of over 110 decibels than before.
We will discuss whether we might call in a specialist to check whether what the Air Force presented to us corresponds to reality.
Above all, the significantly enlarged area affected by heavy noise unsettles the residents of Payerne. Cédric Péclard represents the surrounding communities there in dealings with the army. After the VBS information event, at which no media were admitted, he continued to be skeptical: “We will discuss in the association whether we might call in a specialist so that we can check whether what the Air Force presented to us is the reality is equivalent to.”
Empa report is confidential
Empa’s final report is confidential because it contains data protected by non-disclosure agreements with the manufacturers, the army says. The DDPS has therefore published a short report on the results. In it, the DDPS states that a noise difference of three decibels is just perceptible in everyday life at an airport.
However, the perception of noise is always subjective. It is generally assumed that an increase of 10 decibels corresponds to a perceived doubling of the noise.
Longer training missions, fewer launches
The Swiss Army assumes that the number of flight movements of the F-35 can be reduced by half compared to operations with the F/A-18, partly due to longer training missions. In Payerne, for example, a maximum of 5,500 instead of 11,000 starts per year should take place.
This means that the total noise pollution for residents living near the military airports should remain the same in accordance with the Noise Abatement Ordinance. In a next step, the effective noise pollution for the military airports will be calculated with Empa based on these movement figures. The DDPS also wants to have additional soundproof windows installed in the vicinity of the military airfields “if necessary”.
Due to the actual halving of flight movements, the overall noise pollution should remain approximately in the same order of magnitude.
Bruno Locher from the DDPS says: “By actually halving flight movements, overall noise pollution should remain roughly the same as we know it today. Therefore, not too many soundproof windows should be necessary.»
In other countries, the introduction of F-35 jets led to an increase in noise complaints from residents near military airports. For example in the Netherlands at Leeuwarden Airport, but also in the USA. Authorities and residents in Emmen and Meiringen are already alarmed.