The UK expects to begin receiving a batch of 12 nuclear weapons-capable Lockheed Martin F-35As before 2030, while decisions around its broader future combat air capability are likely to be reached later this year.

“I would expect those F-35As to start being delivered before the end of the decade,” defence secretary John Healey told the House of Commons Defence Committee on 2 July.

Providing further details of a procurement plan announced on 24 June, he says: “The immediate next tranches of F-35 purchases total around 27. We will swap in the purchase of 12 F-35As for what would otherwise have been 12 of those 27 F-35Bs.”

The Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy (RN) are currently equipped with the short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) B-model version of the fifth-generation fighter. Speaking on 1 July, minister of state Lord Coaker said 41 of the 48 B-model jets so far ordered by the UK have been received, with the remainder to follow by March 2026. 

While noting that the UK is “still in early negotiations with industry” around the A-model switch, he says the government expects the jets to cost about 20% less than those originally due to be purchased.

Following the announcement of the UK’s intention to field F-35As in support of NATO’s dual-capable aircraft mission, the RAF said the new jets will be based at Marham in Norfolk and assigned to its 207 Sqn operational conversion unit.

“Day-to-day, the F-35As will be used in a training role,” the service says, noting that as the model “carries more fuel than the F-35B variant, it can stay airborne for longer, extending the available training time in each sortie for student pilots”. The conventional take-off and landing model also has reduced maintenance requirements versus the STOVL version, it notes.

“These factors combined will improve pilot training and reduce the amount of time for pilots to reach frontline squadrons,” the service states. Additionally, the training adjustment will “improve F-35 force generation for [RN] Carrier Strike operations”, it adds.

Introduction of the A-model assets also will “support the stand-up of a third frontline F-35[B] Lightning squadron”, the service says.

Describing the switch as “a more effective and efficient way to run some of our training for the F-35”, vice chief of the defence staff General Dame Sharon Nesmith told the Defence Committee: “in that sense, we are not anticipating it having any impact on the operational outputs”.

Meanwhile, Healey confirms that the UK has made no adjustment to its programme of record total for planned lifetime purchases of the F-35. “We have done nothing to that ultimate 138 figure,” he states.

“The components and composition of our future combat air requirements, purchases and sequencing, which will cover F-35s, [Eurofighter] Typhoons and any other developments, will be made in the context of the defence investment planning process over the next few months,” he says.

The UK does not intend to purchase any additional Eurofighters, unlike its programme partners Germany, Italy and Spain, which have all signed for follow-on batches.

Instead, London’s recently published Strategic Defence Review document pledges to “create a next-generation RAF, with F-35s, upgraded Typhoons, next-generation fast jets through the Global Combat Air Programme, and autonomous fighters”.

Story updated with status of UK’s F-35B deliveries to date.