The Ministry of Defence said the National Audit Office’s F-35 availability figures lack essential context and rely on a metric that does not reflect how the fleet is actually operated.
Ben Obese-Jecty MP asked why the UK F-35 fleet achieved only two-fifths of the availability level recorded by the global F-35B fleet between October 2024 and January 2025, citing paragraph 11 of the Public Accounts Committee’s report The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability.
Responding to Obese-Jecty’s questions, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the Ministry of Defence will not release availability figures for 2023, 2024 or 2025 “for operational security reasons”. Pollard noted that the National Audit Office had similarly redacted availability data in its own reporting.
In its findings, the NAO said: “The MoD is delivering F-35 availability far below its targets. In 2024 the UK F-35 fleet achieved approximately half of the MoD’s target for mission capable rate… The UK F-35 fleet achieved approximately one third of the MoD’s target for full mission capable rate. UK availability rates also compared unfavourably with the global F-35B fleet… approximately three-fifths that of the global fleet for mission capable rate and approximately two-fifths for full mission capable rate.” The NAO said the figures were withheld for national security reasons.
Pollard argued that the NAO’s method assumes aircraft are “available 24/7”, which he said distorts assessments for combat air platforms. He added that the late-2024 and early-2025 period reflected normal force-generation cycles, scheduled maintenance and leave, and a phase when “both squadrons were deployed to a carrier for an exercise” before post-exercise regeneration.
The Public Accounts Committee’s later assessment struck a more critical tone. It described F-35 availability as “poor” and “significantly below” UK targets, reporting that the fleet met “approximately one-third of the MoD target” for full mission capable time during 2024. The PAC said UK availability between October 2024 and January 2025 was “two-fifths of the level of availability of the global F-35B fleet.”
The committee pointed to enduring shortages of engineers, instructors, cyber specialists and pilots, along with capability gaps such as the absence of a standoff weapon until Spear 3 arrives in the early 2030s. It has asked the Ministry of Defence to set out how it intends to raise availability and sustain capability after Full Operating Capability is declared.
Hang on chaps, I’m just pulling up the comfy chair, got a few logs for the fire and a fresh brew on, be ready in a minute.
Right, go for it !
I’m thinking It’ll get Political early on with a few “Drive by’s” a bit later, then a whole bunch of epic essays and some brand new names in the early (hic) hours. 🤡
Steady with the caffeine at this time, you’ll not sleep
If the NAO methodology is wrong why didn’t the MoD challenge it in the report.
How can they underperform other F35B fleets if it’s simply a question of the wrong measurement.
So the NAO and the MOD are disputing the claimed figures, but both parties are redacting the only basis on which their claims could be judged, on security grounds?
You can’t say that the figures are wrong, but for security reasons you won’t reveal the right ones. If you really believe the figures are a national secret, you just need to shut the hell up and let the chips fall where they may. As it stands, nobody believes the figures are a secret (the US publish theirs and we even publish our targets). This sort of nonsense leaves MOD in the worst possible position.
Does anybody believe a word these Charlatans say anyway?
I don’t.
However, big effort with CSG 25 so BZ for that.
It has reached super farce levels now.
Trying to hide the effects of decreasing spend and cuts this way is beyond a Sir Humphrey Appleby joke.