Further to last week’s report in ADM on the UK’s flipflop between F-35B and F-35C, which generated considerable comment on our website and a correction re final flop we can report that the UK defense ministry is making the final preparations for purchasing its first squadron of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters.
After the £74 million ($114 million) government flip-flop, changing to the F-35C conventional carrier-borne version in 2010 and then reverting to the short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing variant F-35B in 2012, officials are looking toward ‘Main Gate 4,’ a procurement contract milestone that will not only buy the UK’s first squadron but also begin the transition toward operations.
It is understood the order will be for around 14 F-35Bs.
Speaking at the Professional Engineering Institution’s (PEI) annual defence lecture in July, Royal Navy Commodore Rick Thompson, the head of the Lightning II project team in the UK’s Defense Equipment and Support organisation, said the first squadron of British aircraft should move back to the UK in 2018.
At that time, they would begin trials with the first Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carrier with the aim of achieving an initial land-based operating capability in late 2018.
When the UK entered the program, it announced it would buy as many as 138 aircraft, although the commitment so far is for 48.
A Main Gate 5 decision—due around 2017—is expected to approve the remaining balance of the first tranche of F-35 procurement.
Thompson says no decisions would be taken before the next Strategic Defense and Security Review in 2015, in which officials are expected to firm up the final number of JSFs the UK will buy.
He would not comment on whether the UK would purchase more than 48.
