COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

The UK is about to commit to the F-35 fighter project, a US-led effort to produce 3,000 aircraft which is set to cost more than £600bn globally.



The initial UK order for 14 F-35Bs will, with support costs added, cost about £2.5bn, Newsnight has learned.

Defence Secretary Philip Hammond said the F-35B was an expensive plane, but one with an "incredible capability".

But critics have questioned Ministry of Defence suggestions that the jets will be fully combat capable by 2020.

The F35-B will be known as Lightning II in UK active service and is going to replace the already retired Harrier.

The aircraft - capable of vertical landing - will eventually be able to fly from new carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The F-35 programme is central to the future of the Royal Navy and the military aerospace sector of the economy, but it has been plagued by development problems, is years late into service and the true cost to the UK is only just becoming clear.

Fire prevents F-35 stealth fighter carrier fly-past



Britain’s new £70 million F-35 stealth fighter will not attend the naming ceremony of the UK’s aircraft carrier after an engine fire grounded the jets in America.

Officials have had to cancel an expected fly-past at the ceremony in Scotland on Friday because all the new fighter jets are undergoing checks after fire tore through one US plane last week.

Engineers are now trying to ensure the planes are ready to cross the Atlantic to make their international debut at the Royal International Air Tattoo at Fairford next week.

The fire is the latest difficulty to strike the F-35 programme which has become the Pentagon’s costliest weapons programme.

Britain has said it will buy at least 48 jump jet F-35Bs and the new planes will fly from the 65,000 ton HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier. Three British planes have been delivered and are being tested by British pilots in the US before they are due to enter service in 2018.

A US Air Force F-35 was badly damaged when it caught fire last week as it prepared for take-off at an airbase in Florida. Defence officials have now ordered inspections of all the F-35 Pratt & Whitney engines and are examining debris found on the runway after the blaze.

The fire delayed plans to fly three US Marine and one RAF F-35 across the Atlantic earlier this week in time for the naming of HMS Queen Elizabeth at Rosyth Dockyard. US officials said last month they hoped the plane would make its international debut at the ceremony.

An RAF source added: “This is flight safety. The last thing we want to do is park an F-35 in the Atlantic.”

The F-35, also called the Lightning II, is lauded as the most advanced fighter ever built, but the programme has been dogged by cost overruns and delays.

F-35 combat jet's UK debut at Fairford Air Tattoo cancelled

The first UK appearance of the combat jet due to be used on Britain's new aircraft carriers has been cancelled.

It was hoped the F-35B Lightning IIs would be at the Royal International Air Tattoo in Fairford, Gloucestershire which, starts on Friday.

But last week the entire fleet of F-35's was grounded in the US following an engine fire.

There is still some optimism that the jet might appear at the Farnborough Air Show which starts on Monday.

Organisers of the tattoo said in a statement: "Despite everyone's best endeavours, it has now been decided that the Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II will not fly at the Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) 2014 as all of the aircraft currently remain grounded."

Last week the US Air Force and the US Navy grounded the aircraft following an engine fire on one of the planes.

That has jeopardised the plane's appearance at the Farnborough Air Show, where four of the F-35B models - also known as the Lightning II's - were due to appear.

"If the F-35 doesn't make it to the show it's quite embarrassing. It will jeopardise the timing of export orders," said Richard Aboulafia, an analyst with Teal Group.

F-35 Absent From Farnborough


Grounded for life?

The Farnborough airshow opens on Monday with the non-appearance of the stricken US-built F-35 fighter jet overshadowing the traditional battle for plane orders between titans Airbus and Boeing.

The F-35 stealth, whose entire fleet was grounded in the United States last week because of an engine fire, will not appear as planned on the airshow's first day but may still take part at the end of the week, organisers said.

On the eve of Farnborough, Boeing said it could in the future launch a new version of its 737 MAX single-aisle jet that would carry more seats.

Meanwhile a briefing update on the F-35, set to become the backbone of the air defences of several Western countries, is scheduled to take place in Farnborough on Monday.

"Unfortunately the F-35B Lightning II will not be displaying at the Farnborough International Airshow" on the opening day, the organisers said in a statement.

"The aircraft is still awaiting US DoD (Department of Defence) clearance but we are hopeful that it will fly at the airshow by the end of the week."

F-35 stealth jet 'will not be able to fire its guns until 2019'

America's much-vaunted new F-35 stealth jet has reportedly suffered the latest in a series of problems with the discovery of a software glitch which prevents the use of its on-board cannon.

The jump jets – 14 of which have been ordered by Britain – are costing US taxpayers nearly $400 billion (£257 billion) and are due to enter service next year.

However, according to the Daily Beast website, the F-35 still does not have the software it needs to operate the four-barrelled rotary cannon.

This would be a particular problem when the aircraft is being used to support ground troops as a gun is more precise than dropping a small bomb — with the latter more likely to cause friendly-fire casualties.