British Could buy the F-35B ?

According to today's issue of The Guardian , a British Ministry of Defence consider the possibility of returning to the purchase of F-35B, short takeoff and vertical landing.


In the wake of the British budget cuts, London resigned from purchasing pre-F-35B, which were originally on board to replace the Harriers. In return for the selected version of the classic aircraft, model C, which is developed for the U.S. Navy. Then emphasized that the F-35C is not only cheaper (current unit price difference is about 10 million U.S. dollars), but will have greater capacity and range.

Today, however, the Ministry of Defence supports the re-purchase option for B. This is due to recent estimates, the cost of new aircraft design changes. It is estimated that installing the catapults and the system will consume even a rope hampering GBP 1 billion, which would be unacceptable expense in the current budget realities.

That is not even certain that the Royal Navy will use the two large ships. According to Jim Murphy - Head of the Ministry of Defence in the opposition shadow cabinet - Royal Navy plans for economical reasons for preservation of HMS Queen Elizabeth , the first 65-thousandth of the unit, immediately after the adoption of the service, so in 2016. Operational tasks to perform before the HMS Prince of Wales , but not earlier than in 2020. This in turn means that will be necessary to purchase a smaller number of aircraft, which increases the chance to choose a more expensive version of B instead of adapting to the naval F-35C.

The final decision on the matter to be taken before Easter. Any rejection by the British to purchase the F-35B can be a serious indication to abandon the development of this model. Fact is that in addition to significant technical problems, the Americans could not find many buyers for these aircraft. So far - apart from USMC Air, which plans to have 340 such planes - a declaration of purchase successors Harriers gave the Italians. However, they need only 22 fighter jets to the aircraft carrier Cavour .