British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will announce UK intentions to purchase at least 12 US-made F-35A conventional take-off and landing aircraft during the Nato Summit in the Hague today (25 June).
The new jets will be based at RAF Marham in Norfolk, with the government expected to procure 138 F-35s – A and B variants – over the lifetime of the programme. The Royal Air Force (RAF) have received 38 F-35Bs from the original equipment manufacturer Lockheed Martin.
The procurement of 12 F-35As, rather than continuing to purchase the F-35B short take-off and vertical landing variant, as part of the next procurement package is expected to save up to 25% per aircraft according to a cost projection from the Ministry of Defence (MoD).
This cost-cutting measure is similarly reinforced in the 46th recommendation of the Strategic Defence Review (SDR).
Nuclear capability
One message that the government emphasised in its announcement is that the platform is certified to deploy nuclear as well as conventional weapons from above. The acquisition of the F-35A opens up the possibility of the UK expanding its nuclear deterrent to the skies.
At present, the UK’s nuclear power projection leans on the continuous-at-sea deterrence of at least one Vanguard-class nuclear ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) – soon to be replaced by Dreadnought – at any one time.
Likewise, the SDR reinforced the importance of a nuclear deterrent with plans to spend £15bn ($20bn) on expanding the production of sovereign nuclear warheads. Although it is not specified how these destructive agents will be deployed, it will likely be for Trident missiles at sea.
“The purchase represents the biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation,” the MoD noted. “It also reintroduces a nuclear role for the [RAF] for the first time since the UK retired its sovereign air-launched nuclear weapons following the end of the Cold War.”
The nation used to have an aerial nuclear weapon in the WE177 nuclear bomb but the government withdrew it from service in 1998.
A lack of clarity
The decision comes after several months of debate in defence circles about whether the RAF should double down on existing Eurofighter Typhoons in a tranche five upgrade or procure the stealthy, American platform.
It must be understood that the UK has left the conversation open-ended; there is no clarity about the status of the fourth-generation Typhoon aircraft, of which there are159 units in service according to GlobalData intelligence.
The government has only committed to a dozen F-35As – not enough to replace existing combat aircraft, let alone meet their requirement for “warfighting readiness” as laid out in the SDR earlier this month.
One vociferous proponent of Eurofighter is Unite, a leading trade union in the UK, which maintains that British jobs surrounding Typhoon production far outweigh that of Lockheed Martin’s F-35A Lightning II, or the Joint Strike Fighter, which derives parts and production from a global supply chain among numerous allies.
According to Unite, Typhoon production will secure around 120,000 jobs in the UK compared to 20,000 through the Joint Strike Fighter programme.
While the UK Ministry of Defence stated that 15% of every F-35 aircraft – of which more than 1,185 aircraft delivered – is sourced from the UK, Unite discern that only 3% is physically built in the country. It is on this basis that the union general secretary, Sharon Graham, described the prospect of phasing out the Typhoon as an “act of national self-harm.”
