The Ministry of Defence has said the UK’s F-35 fleet will remain in frontline service into the 2060s, while declining to specify when sixth-generation aircraft will begin replacing the Typhoon and F-35, according to a written parliamentary answer published on Monday.
The exchange followed a question from Conservative MP Ben Obese-Jecty, who asked the Defence Secretary to clarify the replacement timeline set out in the Strategic Defence Review 2025. The SDR references the introduction of “sixth-generation combat air” but does not attach firm dates for when the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) aircraft will assume the roles currently filled by Typhoon and the Lightning Force.
Responding on behalf of the department, Minister of State Luke Pollard referred Obese-Jecty to a previous answer about Typhoon’s out-of-service dates and stressed the longevity of the UK’s F-35 fleet. Pollard wrote that “the F-35 aircraft will remain a cornerstone of our CA capabilities out to the 2060s.”
He added that the UK’s next-generation combat air capability “will be delivered by the Global Combat Aircraft, alongside uncrewed platforms and the current generation of aircraft.” The answer offered no direct timing for when GCAP aircraft will begin replacing legacy platforms, instead highlighting the intended mix of manned and unmanned systems.
The refusal to provide concrete dates mirrors the broader tone of the SDR, which emphasises capability pathways rather than fixed milestones. GCAP’s target of delivering a sixth-generation fighter by 2035 has been presented as an ambition rather than a guaranteed in-service date. Typhoon itself retains upgrade pathways that could keep it viable well into the 2040s, including radar, mission systems and electronic warfare enhancements.
By 2060, we will probably have 4 Typhoons and 20 F35’s left, the 4 Typhoons will be stuck at the former RAF Mount Pleasant after Ascention Island has been given away to Belize together with £35 Billion.
The 20 F35’s will be stuck on POW as the UK mainland will have been submerged due to rising Sea levels.
Well done, I like that it’s sarcastic, backed by real life likelihood. Promote yourself to “Full Wit”🤔
🤣
That will solve the small boats problem 😀
I just hope those lamp posts are above the water level so everyone can see those George crosses.
It looks like the small boats problem might be sorted by Shabana Mahmood. Irony of ironies – we might be saved by a female, labour Muslim prepared to tell the labour left where they get off 🙂 Great – tough lady. Shabana for PM? As regards St George, I would prefer that England had a patron saint of our own, rather than sharing him with Bulgaria, Serbia, Georgia, Portugal…and many others. St Alban has a better claim to be England’s saint.
Her plan is just the same as any MOD plan looks good on paper till it comes to getting it past the treasury or parliament!
We’ve had the Global Combat Ship and that has been a great success. Long may it continue with the Global Combat Aircraft.
Morning “Damian”, GCS has it’s origins from way back in 1998, nwearly 28 years ago, Steel was first cut 8 years ago and not one ship has been fully built yet.
Orders and adoption of the design are great but we have yet to see how successful they will be.
Delboy, Albert, Trigger, Rodney, Damian all sorted now ! 😁
Wonder then with all these 36 years to come if they’ll ever be a twin engined F35, even a F35B STOVL type? And will one or both of the QE carriers evolve with it?
No one’s made a twin engine Stovl for obvious reasons
There will not be a twin engined F-35 I can assure you, this was just another momentary fantasy thought plucked from the air inside his head from our glorious alien overlord when he had Lockheed bigwigs in the Oval Office to offer ‘support’ having just given the new US fighter project to a competitor, leaving them desperate for any new work on current platforms they can glean. They looked on and smiled not daring to contradict their bread giver but Lockheed has never seriously promoted the idea simply because it would effectively be a brand new aircraft without most of the benefits of a clean sheet design which they would much prefer to have created over persisting with reworking the F-35. Cost, design and timeline would simply never add up, offering probably the most expensive and pointless flying boondoggle of all time. What they have talked of is an up engined F-35 (which will happen) giving more performance, range and weapon load inside at most a moderately modified airframe and various other upgrades and modifications including a possible ‘two man’ version making the control of drones more easily, incorporating elements of their rejected 6th Gen proposal. Trump heard the number ‘two’ mentioned and went off on his fantasy trip where he thinks he is the preferred expert on all manner of things, just as he did when talking about injecting disinfectant into Covid victims in front of incredulous actual experts.
Basically there isn’t a funded plan so as to disguise that it is fudged and kept secret.
As most of us on here have controlled onto there is a bit of a problem with EoL Typhoon and GCAP with a very optimistic introduction window.
The only solution is more Typhoon, as they can carry weapons or F35 as they have sensors but can’t carry UK weapons. Which is unbelievable.
Meanwhile MOD use the fact that F35 can’t carry UK weapons as a reason for not buying them and that Typhoon does have F35 stealth or sensors for not buying those.
Clearly this is a policy developed by the Camerloon defence policy generator that gave us ‘can’t see a use for an aircraft carrier in the next ten years….oh, wait Libya….can we send a carrier?….no, we can’t’
Basically praying we don’t need to fight a war until some time in the far, far future….
If the government actually did buy some more Typhoon’s for the UK they might actually get respected and even thanked for it. It may not be ideal for those who love the F35s but pragmatic, realistic, timely, sensible, good for industry, employment, morale, even good for beefing up defences!
Ah but the RAF isn’t interested in Typhoon its last years Toy, it wants the F35A which is so nice and shiny so is doing absolutely everything it can to kill further F35B buys or more Typhoons. To make matters worse we have a new CDS with vastly reinforced powers, who’s never been a pilot, aircrew but is an engineer by trade (which makes a pleasant change and yes I’m biased).
Fact is that as it stands an F35A operating in an intense Central European war isn’t much use for anything be that offence or defence because we can’t integrate the bits it needs to make Bangs unless we buy US.
The other bit I just don’t get is who is doing analysis of the Air War in Ukraine and what are they finding out ? On the surface it seems that without HAS, using mainly old Ben 4 Soviet or NATO aircraft Ukraine is still fielding an airforce. Which considering it’s facing a vastly larger number of slightly younger 4/4.5 gen with 2 borders with SAM, Radars etc is somewhat of a miracle (maybe they didn’t get the memo re Stealth being vital in modern warfare).
As for the RAF fixation on the nice Shiny F35A toy, maybe they should ask their American playmates why they are apparently cutting their orders by half ?
Could it possibly be that with its never ending delays to software upgrades, ever increasing costs (both direct and indirect such as maintenance) the US has realised that the Shiny New Toy is to use a lovely old Derbyshire Expression a Lady best described as having a “Fur Coat and Dripping” as it looks nice but lives on a diet of dripping (the cruder version of that saying is “Fur Coat but no K******s”).
To me it’s simple don’t buy the F35A and make things even more complicated for the maintainers, buy sufficient F35B to equip the carriers (and US weapons if necessary) but meanwhile buy 48 new build Typhoons and upgrade the rest of them.
And as for the RAF wanting to get back into Nuclear strike just speak to the French about integrating ASMP-R onto Typhoons, at least that way some of them may get home alive.
Geez SB that is such a spot on take, you can just picture the Committees discussing these very matters and never coming to a decision to spend money on anything other than what they are going to have for lunch and the quality of the Port they can get away with and put off any further contemplation of the actual important matters at hand till the next meeting hoping fate will have decided for them by then. Rinse and repeat.
We will inevitably have yet another vital equipment gap of the very nature that everyone is complaining about today and no doubt buy some second hand Gripens from Ukraine to fill it till Tempest actually does come into service hopefully in the late thirties. Only the Japanese being onboard gives me any hope for that 2035 date but even if by a miracle it was the first Gen will be undoubtedly built for but presently without much if its potential capability I fear.
Farcical is my fave word this week. By 2060 all the UK population will be speaking Mandarin and wearing Ho Chi Min sandals. Peoples Militia will all carry AK’s and execute dissenters from government protocols. Laugh? We are almost there.
Ha, you arn’t far off ! Most of our Yoofs seem to talk a foreign language already, In it Bro, like this is wat i is sayin my N(word). FFS. I blame Sky TV.
U iz rite 4once on dat innit. Adapt or our Assisted Death bill will encompass everybody over 40 wot dont adapt innit. Yoof power.
Don’t laugh it’s not a foreign language they are just starting to speak faster.. my eldest and her friends communicate by sending each other voice message recordings and they all listen to them sped up at x2 speed..when they sit and talk they speak so quickly all I hear is buzzing.
2060’s that’s like the Hawker Woodcock still in operational service in 1960’s!
How many times have I said this even if they get the first product model up for 2035 ( which in itself would be a miracle ) the first front line squadron would not be active until 2040 and you would only have about five front line squadrons for 2050 so typhoon will need to be flying into 2050.