• F-35 Lightning II aircraft will fly in Britain for the first time this summer, the Defence Secretary has announced.
    F-35 Lightning II aircraft will fly in Britain for the first time this summer, the Defence Secretary has announced.
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The F-35 Lightning II aircraft will fly in Britain for the first time this July, the British Defence Secretary has announced.

The F-35 Lightning II will make its international debut in July at the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford and will also fly at the Farnborough International Air Show.

The decision to fly the combat aircraft outside of the US for the first time, following discussions between Philip Hammond and his US counterpart, Secretary Hagel, is a said to be further demonstration of the progress with the Lightning II program.

The MoD has three aircraft which are all currently based in the US undertaking training with Royal Navy and Royal Air Force pilots.

Orders for further aircraft will be placed over the next few years.

The UK’s first operational Lightning II squadron, 617 Squadron, is scheduled to transition to RAF Marham in Norfolk from the US in 2018 ahead of flight trials of the Queen Elizabeth Class Carrier later that year.

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