Why Britain’s F-35s could be consigned to the scrap heap

Professor Justin Bronk, a senior research fellow for air power and technology at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), says the F-35 is essential to maintaining British airpower through to the 2030s, when Tempest is expected to come online. “I think the UK should definitely proceed with the follow-on order of 27, to take the fleet to 74,” he says. “That’s more or less the functional minimum for the fleet to meet its obligations. Beyond that, I don’t see much fiscal room for additional orders in the foreseeable future and, in any case, if there was additional money ... I would put it into weapons and maintenance and spares, to improve the combat capability and availability.” He is sceptical about grumbling on sovereignty with the F-35, pointing out that Britain already works with international partners on the existing Eurofighter Typhoon programme and will do so for Tempest as well. “There are certainly some trade-offs, but I think the sovereignty issue is significantly overblown,” he adds. “The UK doesn’t have sovereign control over the Typhoon or Tempest either, because it’s beholden to the requirements and needs of the other partner [countries] – so the idea there’s some sort of mystical sovereignty involved in any of these is fairly obviously not true.”