A Swiss Air Force jet crashed in the central canton of Obwalden on Wednesday, according to the country’s Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport.
The department tweeted on Wednesday that the pilot of the F-5 Tiger ejected from the cockpit and survived the crash near Melchsee-Frutt in the central canton of Obwalden.
There were no immediate details on what caused the incident with the F-5 Tiger, a single seat, tactical fighter jet.
“The Tiger F-5 took off from Payerne and was on a training flight as a sparring partner for an Air Force F/A-18 [when the crash took place]. Military justice is currently investigating the cause of the accident”, the tweet, in particular, says.
The crash is the latest in a series of similar accidents involving Swiss fighter jets over the last five years.
These include an incident in August 2016, when a Swiss Air Force F/A-18 jet crashed into the mountains in central Switzerland. In June of the same year, two F-5 jets from the Patrouille Suisse aerobatic display team collided in the Netherlands.
The Swiss military insists that the current fleet of F/A-18s and Tigers is ageing, and that it needs replacing before 2030 at the latest.