Future of The Royal Air Force - F-35 Lightning II

F-35 Lightning II

The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defence missions with stealth capability. It was selected for the UK's Joint Combat Aircraft requirement in 2001 and is expected to enter service with the RAF and the Royal Navy around 2020, replacing the existing Tornado GR4 and Harrier GR9 fleets (the latter already having been retired in late 2010), and operating from the Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers. It will be the main component of the RAF's manned strike capability. The F-35 has been designed to have a low radar cross section primarily due to stealthy materials used in construction, including fibre mat.

The version initially selected was Short Take Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35, known as the F-35B. However, on 19 October 2010, David Cameron announced that the UK would change their order to the F-35C CATOBAR carrier variant for both the RAF and Navy. The F-35C variant features larger wings with foldable wingtip sections, larger wing and tail control surfaces for improved low-speed control. This gives it a greater range and the ability to carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B.

In May 2012, it was announced that the UK coalition government had reverted back to the previous government's plan to operate the Short Take Off Vertical Landing F-35B, due to rising estimated shipbuilding costs associated with the CATOBAR variant F-35C, and an earlier estimated in-service date for the F-35B.

The delivery of the UK's first F-35B was made on the 19 July 2012 at Fort Worth, Texas, for flight trials by the RAF and Royal Navy.