You are absolutely right. We have been discussing this at the time briefly here and were mostly surprised by the phrasing of the question.Some weird moment through which Switzerland had to go, I guess… And loose, as we know now, 0.5b$ at least.

And regarding Denmark (because I mentioned it as a country with an air force operating F16 in similar conditions than those seen in northern Canada:

Greenland (Greenlandic: Kalaallit Nunaat […]; Danish: […] is an autonomous country within the Danish Realm, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago.

Source:
Wiki

Danish F16s and… Gripen from Sweden are small single engine fighter that operate regularly in similar conditions.

Actually, with the increase in Safety and reliability, a single engine aircraft will endure less engine malfunctions than a twin or four equipped one.

Already written long ago here but the same think happened at the time with piston engines. Same causes, same effect.

Now that Camel for Canada sounds good. The ones talking alway about wing area, wing load and radius of turn should stand-up for this.
I am surprised there is none Fr backed political group for this ( Camels for Canada). That would have some panache and exquisite rhetoric to please us and make it understood by the average voter.

Airbus to restructure and cut ~1000 jobs in R&D and administrative positions

Airbus is poised to lay off between 780 and more than 1,000 “white collar” staff, with high technology and communications posts to go as the aerospace and defense group pursues an announced restructuring plan,

Fr press is explaining the laid-off by the necessity to offset the losses resulting from the A380 and A400 programs.

Source:
DefenseNews.com

Wingspan is only one meter more than that of the Harrier II. I don’t think that would have been cost-effective to make room for a folding mechanism.
Moreover, we know now (confirmation) that the wing acts as a giant antenna.

Notice however the single aim9x, its canted pylon and negative attitude under the left wing.

18 is not much. It’s really too few airframe for their need. The classic Hornets are in a preoccupying state and force projection won’t let much margin in this.

I think that the quid pro quo around the lease might be a sign of immediate Navy orders being re-routed with much firmer decision being taken next year.
If they go for the Growler option later, it would resonate in public opinion as a positive thing since Canadian are turning themselves away from expeditionary warfare. A political strike indeed for the gov that will allow them to match public opinions while still fulfilling their defense obligations.

The Swiss air force might has well go directly to SAAB and give them the contract. The other two are there to make SAAB run for it.

There are two aspects here to which we should give more attention.
First, the budget for the upgrade is significant at 0.5 b$ for 34 planes. I don’t know where I read it but many items would be directly piped down the SH line such as the mission computer and radar.
This makes the upgraded Hornet a hard competitor to beat in the next competition. Hard enough that a buy of Rafale or Typhoon would be hard to justify to the public (albeit the Typhoon dyn perfs might help).

Hence the second aspect:
By capping the next competition at a high level, won’t it make easier for a less performing/lower cost fighter to sneak in the first place? That will sound more in line with a F5 replacement (thus that will be extended – good news and bad news with light fighter pilots having then a voice in this competition).

Respectively, a fighter bringing something that the upgraded Hornet can’t provide, would have a chance if invited to the competition (E.g Stealth).

So, at the end, Sintra, I think you might have hit something. Let’s call it the Gripchtein competition 😉

Best,