The UK’s fleet of F-35 stealth fighters may be the most advanced combat aircraft the country has ever fielded, but a new report from Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee paints a troubling picture of delays, cost inflation, and deep-rooted management failures within the Ministry of Defence.
The report finds that while “the Department has procured the best fast jet it has ever had,” the UK’s F-35 programme is marred by capability shortfalls and workforce shortages. Of particular concern is the lack of a standoff weapon to strike ground targets from a safe distance, “not likely to be in place until the early 2030s.” The MoD’s chosen system, the Spear 3 missile, has been delayed by supplier issues and software development problems in the global F-35 programme.
The Committee also highlights “severe shortages” of key personnel, including engineers, cyber specialists, pilots, and instructors, which are limiting aircraft availability. Only “five out of sixteen flying instructor posts were filled in 2025,” it notes, warning that the shortage will take years to fix. The report adds that poor accommodation at RAF Marham, the F-35’s home base, is worsening retention: “The 2034 date for relatively simple service accommodation construction is very complacent and should be given greater priority.”
MPs express particular concern over the MoD’s plan to declare “Full Operating Capability” for the F-35 fleet this year, describing the decision as “based on subjective judgement” and dependent on temporary support from the US-led programme during the current Indo-Pacific carrier deployment. Aircraft availability is expected to fall once the carrier strike group returns.
Financial transparency also comes under scrutiny. The Committee says the MoD has consistently “failed to realistically appraise the programme’s whole-life cost.” Following a National Audit Office intervention earlier this year, the Department was forced to raise its estimate from £18 billion to £57 billion, but even that figure excludes “non-equipment costs such as personnel, fuel and infrastructure,” which the NAO places closer to £71 billion.
The report further questions the June 2025 decision to buy 12 F-35A aircraft, land-based variants capable of carrying nuclear weapons, alongside 15 additional F-35Bs. MPs note that “the Department has not provided any indication of forecast costs” for training, certification, or infrastructure needed to support the new nuclear role.
The Committee’s recommendations call for a “more robust and objective definition of Full Operating Capability,” faster investment in Marham’s accommodation, and a clear plan to ensure standoff strike capability before Spear 3’s delayed entry into service. It also urges the MoD to include all relevant costs, personnel, infrastructure, and fuel, in its long-term financial planning for the fleet.
The Public Accounts Committee’s full report, The UK’s F-35 Stealth Fighter Capability, offers a detailed assessment of how one of Britain’s most ambitious defence projects risks falling short of its potential. It can be read in full on Parliament’s website here.
Another total shambles. I do wonder about how much value the extra investment in defence will deliver. The MOD seems to be riddled with incompetence from top to bottom.
I agree, in many ways I think the business of being in the military is just too complicated now for the people running it. We expect officers many of who never even went to university and that are trained in field work to go on a run massive organisations with vast complicated budgets running science and engineering projects at the bleeding edge of technology the human race is capable of developing.
All that under the charge of one man with just one a level that left school at 18 and only gets two years in the job before retirement. He is overseen by a completely unqualified civilian minister appointed not on merit but political allegiance that has an average tenure of 19 months in the job since 2010.
I couldn’t agree more Jim,
The system was also largely ‘deskilled’ years ago as many civilian roles related to project management across the MoD were downgraded, in particular financial controllers who supported the project and portfolio managers. Needless to say the experienced folk will have left or retired and been replaced by people with insufficient training and knowledge to do the job that the MoD really needs to them to do.
So as you point out officers trained to fight get dropped into complex project management roles and the civilian specialists who would have supported them in the past are not there in sufficient numbers or the shills to cope with the volume or type of work… Result – shambles.
If the MoD delayed funding for Meteor and SPEAR 3 integration in 2018 as Robert says below, then we have really shot ourselves in the foot as well. As for poor housing at Marham, I’m speechless…
Depressing doesn’t cover it.
CR
General Melchett is available to run the MOD.
Looks like F35’s being “shot down” twice in a row now !!!
Should have bought F18’s 😁
Or even created a Carrier verson of the typhoon ( I went there) ..now leg it….
Ahh, the mythical “Navalised Typhoon” or “Sea Typhoon” I’m hoping for a “Sea Tempest” of “Tempest of the Seas”.
“Tempest of the Seas” Trumps, Trumps “Trumpest”.
“Unleash the Tempest” as opposed to (With latest Accidents in mind) “Dump the Trump”.
I think I could go on and on and on and on and well, on for a long time with this particular Train of thought.
“Tempest of the Seas” sounds bloody good dunnit ?
I vote for tempest of the seas.. sounds like a really good book I once read about the rise and fall of British maritime power ( sovereign of the seas.. good book you should read it went your not trying to do yourself an injury on a bike).. dump the strumpet 😂😂😂
After spending £7b on carriers and £9m on carriers, we have little more than a token force. Mission capability rates are woeful, support costs high and not falling.and the pace of software upgrades to allow integration of UK weapons.is shockingly slow.
For carrier operation, we have no easy alternative. For all other roles we do- Typhoon.
So cancel planned F35A purchase
Transfer F35A to RN
Order at least 60 new Typhoons to restore lost land based combat air capacity.
what is the RN going to do with F35A? They need B, (or maybe C if they decide to retrofit EMALS/AAG on the carriers)
agree that Typhoon should be on order. 107 is too small a fleet.
also Typhoon is finally getting some love, with ECRS mk2 radar, and EW pods (Germany in cooperation with Saab). maybe some wingman in the future as well as new weapons (antiship, SEAD/DEAD, etc…) which will further enhance the missions it can accomplish.
Tempest won’t be in service for some time (not in enough numbers at first), so Typhoon should still have many years of usefull service.
Sorry meant F35B. We have zero need to buy F35A
thx, i was confused since in one line you say cancel, in the other you say transfer
Isn’t the F35A being purchased to provide the UK with a nuclear gravity bomb capability? The F35B has not been certified for this. So it does have a valid purpose.
If you read the report. Its not the aircraft or it’s capability that’s the problem. Its the bad management to supply pilots/engineers/support facilities and infrastructure that’s the problem. Cost cutting in 2018 by the MOD has had the biggest impact on delivering Meteor and Spear 3, not LM. We had the ability to jump the weapons integration que, until the funding was pulled for in year savings. And ordering 60 Typhoons would cost 15+ billion. Where does that money come from
Fair comment. We made things harder than they needed to be; a common occurrence. But we are where we are. Short term F-35B will have to make do with the very acceptable ASRAAM and AMRAAM and I would agree we should buy the US glide bomb, whatever it’s called these days.
I see we have just signed a new defence agreement with Oman. What is that about; buy back of Typhoons and Challenger 2?
👍
Morning mate, its difficult isn’t it…
One of the issues we face is the F35B is an extraordinarily complex and maintenance intensive aircraft.
While the software aspect and weapon options will mature, you can’t do anything about its excessive mechanical complexity.
If we wish to have the same effect as a regular squadron, we are going to have to increase the aircraft allocation on the carriers.
I wonder how many of say 24 aircraft embarked on a QE Class, would remain airworthy after 2 weeks at a full operational tempo, engaged in a potential high end war, as part of an international coalition in say Iran, or the Korean peninsula etc, etc.
We are going to need that third operational squadron, thats for sure.
Afternoon mate.
The A saves them money, that was another factor, even though HMG trumpets it as an improvement.
They won’t u turn I’m sure, unlike benefits.
So 62 B it is.
I agree, not worth buying, and waiting until early 2030’s, for only 12 F-35A’s!
How about the RAF develops a new aircraft, for close combat air support, like the former Jaguar, or even further development of a drone GR Harrier?
The F-35As were not worth buying militarily, but since when is nuclear a military decision?
The nuclear aspect of F35A is a bit of a red herring in my opinion.
It’s the RAF tilting the table to get the F35A into the inventory and start building an A fleet.
T-50s for Hawk replacement?
I can’t read !!!
Seriously though, I do read comics, and a few Bike Mags !
Bikes are fun, even today in the Wind with rain on It’s way, I’m sat in the Garage playing with my nuts. Ordered a Spanner to undo the old Axle Nut and realised the new nut was a different head size so waiting for a new Spanner from Amazon !
This latest “Busa” is having a light refurb with losts of shiny Titanium bits and a few new Trick bits, removing the rather anoying top speed restriction too, can’t possibly live with a restricted bike !
#200mphclub
Beggers belief.
Wrong aircraft, but not something that can be admitted.
cannot
You were right the first time
Smacks a bit like Sunak just signing up for boxer 155m guns out of the blue!did Starmer actually ask the RAF about A’s before he signed up for them?
As for the accommodation at Marham no money for that but don’t be at all surprised if the refurbishment of the barracks for the illegals comes out of the defence budget because it’s MOD property!
Scrap F35A – buy something useful and European.
With the small buy from Turkey and the lack of any other orders to keep Wharton in business, not to mention the never ending failure of Lockheed Martin to deliver, it seems clear that the UK must double down on Typhoon.
Even a large order of F35A won’t arrive much before the first delivers of Tempest now.
Given the cost of putting AESA radar on 40 tranche 3 aircraft (£54million each) its best to forget the upgrades and just start rolling with a buy for new tranche 5 airframes.
Typhoon tranche 5 with the new ECM suite and AESA radar is easily able to counter anything Russia has in the air and on the ground and the FC/ASW and meteor will keep it relevant for decades, we know how to use them, maintain them and train pilots on them. Typhoon is the perfect aircraft for European defence and 48F35B gives us a potent expeditionary force.
Totally agree. Skip F-35A and go all in on GCAP. For the foreseeable we’ll need the Bravos for the carriers, so that should be their primary reason, and filling in the stealth/fusion role as an interim for the RAF until GCAP.
Totally agree
A brand new Typhoon will easy cost £100m each! It’s still cheaper to do the upgrades. Tranche 3s have still got a lot of airframe life left.
Forfget the idea of ordering more F35’s of either type and run them with the carriers and order another 30 (?) Typhoons and then plough on with Tempest.
Shambolic. Said it before, I know guys have quit the RAF because they do not want to be sailors. Weapons fit make this a joke for a 5th gen airframe. Of course it is typical of UK procurement, political posturing and MoD incompetence abound with everything.
Sell the bloody carriers and aircraft to India and have done with it. Then either more Typhoons or Gripen E, concentrate on Northern Europe. More submarines, more frigates and equip an army for Nato service.
Rant over, feel free to bite 🙂
Love and hugs
Light Infantry
To focus on Northern Europe is probably right but the North Atlantic is still going to need protected! That’s where our carriers come in we focus there that frees up American carriers to be elsewhere doing the pacific etc.
What’s the obsession with selling the carriers to India? They don’t want them. They definitely don’t want the F-35Bs either.
I am not convinced that the ‘long range’ stand off strike weapon envisaged ie Spear 3 is actually going to be able to do the job when it is finally incorporated, it’s basically assuming the F-35 will remain impervious to defensive measures, which by the early thirties is optimistic at best, certainly for the ranges that Spear 3 can operate at. Is there any reasonable expectation a longer range weapon might be possible on the B, even if a US alternative. Concerned about what seems over confidence entering the equation here.
I didn’t thing Spear 3 was meant to be the long range stand off. I thought the ACPs were carrying those, maybe Stratus?.
No, longer range options are FC/ASW and SIAW and neither will fit internally on F35B
That being said I think SPEAR 3 and F35 is easily able to take on any air defence system but you might want to knock out long range low frequency radars with FC/ASW and a high flying very fast platform like Typhoon is the best for a long range lobbing shot.
Teaming F35 and Tranche 5 in this combination especially with spear EW and ACP’s in the mix would be the ideal solution and a world beating capability.
I assume this covers Block 4 ugrade?
I am not sure how one can appraise future block 5 etc…when these have yet to be defined and what these upgrades will entail. Because as of now a new adaptive engine has been cancelled / put onhold until further notice, but very hard to assess cost (acquisition and maintenance) when the design has not even been finalized.
Tax cutting peace dividend austerity. All in the name of protecting the financial scammers in London and the oligarchs who run the ‘Establishment’.
Truth.
This is not really an issue with the F35b is constantly prioritising in year cost control over long term efficiency and effectiveness.. which is pure insanity when you are talking about to key component of your nations naval power projection for a nation dependent in every way on maritime power…
The UK alway needed to double down on the carrier.. it needs at least 4 squadrons of F35bs as well as the OCU able to deploy.. In reality it should have 5 squadrons + the OCU to in extremis put out 2 full airwings.
It need to get over itself and just order the full range of available weapons for the f35b, AGM-154 JSOW to give it a 130km strike range as well as 1000ib and 2000ib jdams for hardened target strikes and GBU 53s so it has the able to carry large numbers of munitions that can hit moving targets out to 74km…
It then needs to stop with the whole f35A thing..,that is pure inter service rivalry that impacts on the national interest of the UK.. because carrier strike is the core of Uk power projection.. not diverting to an aircraft that takes way from our ability to develop full air wings for UK carriers.
This government, get over itself?? They have far too many other priorities.
Agree on the Bs. I have no issue with the A, but not at the cost of the B, they need to be additional.
Inter service rivalry, or politics at national level? Too easy to blame the RAF for me. They had their Strike Interdiction role removed by HMG, I don’t blame them wanting the A.
The fanfair around the A for me was due to Starmer’s need to granstand in Paris, where every other nation is expanding and spending more money.
Yep the A is fine after we have at Least 4 squadrons of Bs + the OCU.. ( I would like 5+ OCU) if they want to swap out some of the typhoon squadrons that’s there choice.. personally I don’t think starmer would ever make a decision on something like the A without the brass in the RAF telling him it was a good idea.. the RAF I suspect levered the idea of the nuclear deterrent.. but starmer would not unilaterally come out with let’s buy F35As he would be more likely to not order anything if left to his own decisions.
In the end I think the typhoon will end up pretty much being focused on UK and Falklands air defence as we will only have 96 single seaters left.. which will give 4 squadrons and the Falklands flight moving forward. So essentially really enough for air defence for the UK Falklands and Cyprus..
You know I think we need 12 squadrons. A good balance in the mid 2030s could look like 4 typhoon, 5 f35b ( allowing for 2 carrier based at all times and 4 surge carrier based squadrons ) and 3 F35A ( with the 3 A squadrons allowing 1 land based expeditionary and 2 surge ) .. with tempest the swapped out the 4 typhoon squadrons in the late 2030s and early 40s and the F35A squadrons in the mid late 40s and early 50s for 7 squadrons + 5 carrier based squadrons..
12 has been the new low benchmark ever since it dropped to that level in 2010.
Agree with your balance.
Not happening with only 15 more B ordered, that might get us to 3 B. And where does the money come from for 3 Sqns of A? There are 10 or 12 Billion going into developing Tempest alone.
There is not enough money and this government have no interest in Defence apart from Starmer’s big talk.
So we end up with the smallest fast jet fleet amongst the main European powers, and the RAF is my fav service. Tragic.
In the end it all depends on spending some cash and buying the correct numbers that’s a total of 100+ bs and 60+As because the UK has always needs 250- 300 fast jets..so yep it needs a 15 billion extra recapitalisation over the 5 years.. because 3 billion a year is actually pocket change to the nation if we had the will.. remove the triple lock and have the state pension index linked.. remove child benefit from any household with average income ( 40k household income) that will raise you 20-25 billion a year in freed up income to defence and spread the burden.. that’s 200-250 aircraft from 1 years saving.. as a nation we have lots of money we just makes the choice on how it’s spent..
I agree however we should not underestimate the importance of being able to grand stand especially in front of Trump. This came at a key time when the only objective was keeping the US engaged and this gave Trump the bone he wanted.
Big question is do they follow through in the Defence Investment Plan.
Well he’s thick as mince, Jim. As what is happening at the moment is not what he wanted, I’m sure. He wants hard military power, not fudged accounts.
I pray they provide more money as promised.
Problem with politicians they’ll happily declare X then down the road row back.
How can cost inflate from 18 to 57 Billion?
And how can a government department, the Financial Directorate of MoD and advisors get it so wrong so often?
That is some variance, not a few billion out.
Is there endemic corruption in the MoD?
It’s not the aircraft for me, but the system around it. The lack of an ASM and stand off missile are well known shortcomings, as are lack of pilots. A lack of pilots will naturally mean less QFI as well. Not a new situation, but reports highlighting it again will have the Wolves at the door.
Accommodation at Marham. There were articles on UKDJ about the infrastructure works there years back, several hundred millions if I recall correctly. Why wasn’t Accommodation included in the works? I agree with Jacko. Just watch the billions spent on refurbing Barracks for economic migrants. No shortage of money there…
Priorities, and the military isn’t it, which I keep repeating and won’t ever stop believing in until I’m shown proof otherwise regards our ridiculous political class.
Cyber. We seem to have Cyber units coming out of our ears with the number of new Cyber organisations standing up across Defence, and the emphasis placed on this area, yet the RAF has a shortage? I can think of at least two RAF Cyber centric units, so it’s not as if the RAF don’t have any.
Maybe it’s time for the military to put its guns down and turn to Cyber full time….🙄
There’s internal competition for project funding, which means the level of optimism bias in pitches is bound to be off the charts. There should be MOD professionals who are good at realistic costing, but the people who would employ them within the services have a vested interest in not doing so as long as those with whom they are in competition also don’t. You need to have that imposed from above as a discipline. The expertise should come from the NADG as part of professional procurement, but the NAD isn’t above MSHQ, so the appraisers need to be called in by the Office of the CDS and forced on the services.
The SDR is all about faster procurement and less red tape. It’s not about realism. Somebody is going to have to push against the SDR direction to impose that one. Over to Sir Richard.
Yes, well reasoned….
Jesus, a department of State as vital as Defence is run like a School hobby group.
Is corruption endemic.. I suspect wishful thinking and the requirement to gibe politicians and therefore the public the message they want to hear.. essentially this country ( and the wider west ) does have a form of endemic corruption that has influenced every part of governments and the public sector..the need to tell the public what they want to hear ( essentially because they only vote for the party that tells them what they want to hear). I firmly believe this wishful thinking and only saying what people want to hear is what drove the “ end of history and last man” and may in the end be the downfall of western liberal democracy..
I have seen it everywhere in my work in healthcare, public health and civil preparedness.. I saw it rite large in covid. Just a little example of a small corruption..
A long time ago I was an ED charge nurse and the government brought in the 4 hour wait target ( in itself a good idea as before that hospitals would keep old people on ED trolleys for 12 hours over night when we had beds.. purely so as not to wake up other patients on the ward).. now every time you breached this target you had to write why in a book..and we breached about 10% ( target was 5% ) so we failed now a bit later I got promoted and became responsible for overseeing the compliance with contracted care metrics for all the hospitals across a few counties.. and I had to meet my old director of nursing and get a report on metrics like 4 hour wait targets ( at the time I still did ED shifts to keep my hand in) the director would every time report compliance with the target and yet I knew the ED book showed 10% breaches.. but there was nothing I could do ( and was told as such) because my bosses wanted to be able to tell the DOH they passed the target so the minister could tell the public they past the target.. infact I even told the director I know you know that I know what the true figure is..she just laughed at me)… basically the book I wrote in was checked off and exclusions removed by my ED manager ( who had pressure to keep the figure as low as possible) who gave it to the director who had the board pushing her to keep the figures on target.. so she at complete distance would look for exclusions and finally it went to the board who would jump on any missed targets and insist any breach was looked at again.. to see if more exclusions could be found. Finally the figures would be reported to the Commissioner ( contract holder) who’s job it was to keep the ship steady.. ( I was there to highlight waves.. but generally ignored as bad new and risks are generally played down for good news).. the commission was their to report good news to the DOH and woo to any chief executive who reported bad news.. as it would be special measures and a jolly good sacking.. all for the public so they had someone to blame that was. Not the politicians they voted for… essentially as you say corrupt.. but corruption in a way that requires a system to give good news and delivers punishment to those who deliver bad news.. because nobody votes for the person that gives bad news.. only those who say it will all be great.
As I keep saying.
J for PM. I’d vote for you.
W.Edwards Deming was writing decades ago about the folly of management by target setting. It screws up motivation, moral and the process. If you can think of better way send in your answer on a postcard…..
Cancel the F35s buy more Typhoons and put more money into the Tempest program to speed it up
Where to start when the list is so long? Is having all UK F-35 based in one place wise? When Marham lacks GBAD? Its not just the lack of integration of Spear 3 & Meteor. We have not bought American weapons that are or soon will be integrated. Such as AARGM-ER, JSOW-C or JASSM-ER. Or Norway’s JSM. We have not even bought gun pods or 1000lb JDAMs for F-35B. Then the lack of drop tanks, even though the Israelis have done their own thing to get their F-35I to strike Iran. The first 4 to 14 UK F-35B may not be worthwhile to upgrade. I will stop now before I get onto the need for AAG for QE/PoW.
From what I’ve gathered the Bs are more expensive than the As.
Why not buy more of them to compliment the 12 we are already getting, instead wasting time asking for more Typhoons which are last gen fighters?
wow those estimates were way off. you would expect +10% variation from estimate to final bill, start cringing at 25%, but this is over 300% off. normally you would expect lifetime costs of an aircraft to be several times that of purchase price, so a figther you bought for a 100 may have cost you a total of 300 to 400 upon retirement … but here we are +10x actual purchase cost -> 57billion/48 aircraft -> +1billion per aircraft
so much for “concurrency” (ie start production before you have locked down the final design and done adequate testing) LM were pitching this as the new improved way to roll out products.
In fact it was a ploy to mask growing delays and costs with half-baked deliveries, that need continual fixes, fixes for those fixes etc…. clearly one giant clusterf##k of a process
to be clear i say purchase cost, i mean flyaway cost