A parliamentary answer has clarified that the UK has carried out only basic fit checks of the Future Cruise/Anti-Ship Weapon (FC/ASW) on the F-35B Lightning while maintaining no programme to integrate the missile onto the jet.
Lib Dem MP James MacCleary asked for the planned timeline to equip the Joint Strike Fighter with FC/ASW. Defence minister Luke Pollard made clear that FC/ASW is not being developed with the F-35 in mind.
“The Future Cruise Anti-Ship Weapon programme is designed to be integrated on Typhoon and Rafale aircraft, as well as future platforms including the Global Combat Air Programme,” he said.
Pollard added that “fit checks on F35 have been successfully conducted to test if FC/ASW can be integrated if required.”
These checks are limited to confirming that the missile can be physically mounted and that basic clearances appear feasible. They do not amount to a funded integration effort and do not include software work, fire-control integration, aerodynamic trials or release testing. In practice, this level of work preserves the option without committing to it.
The minister closed by stating that “all decisions on capabilities will be in the Defence Investment Plan,” placing any future integration behind funding choices not yet published.
The UK’s FC/ASW roadmap is centred on Typhoon, Rafale and the future GCAP fighter. The F-35B continues to operate without a long-range anti-ship strike weapon and remains outside the formal FC/ASW pipeline.
As we reported earlier this year, the planned in-service date for the SPEAR Capability 3 air-to-surface weapon, the system long expected to be the F-35B’s principal medium-range strike missile, has slipped into the early 2030s. The Ministry of Defence confirmed that SPEAR 3 is undergoing re-baselining with dates still considered “draft and of low confidence” pending the programme review due at the end of 2025.
No chance of any leading European missiles beyond ASSRAAM being integrated with the F35 ‘Boondoggle’ in any relevant timescale.
“Basic fit checks” hmmm.
So how much did it cost to have a person use a Tape measure ?
To the nearest million will be good enough.
I reckon someone could get away with a £10 million contract for that…. I am available with my tape measure for half that price… I would even go digital to secure the contract…
I could sell you a Solar Generating System to power your Digital Measuring device.
How does £4 million grab you ?
Of course there’s no plans to fit a naval jet with an anti ship weapon. Why give it the teeth it needs to do its job? That’s too logical and not at all the way we do things.
So let me get this right.. our brand new main long range cruse missile will only be integrated onto an aircraft the RAF seem determined to bin as quickly as possible in favour of the F35A ( and B) an aircraft that has no available long range cruise missile strike option.
We now have 6 billion dollars worth of carrier we are buying the wrong F35 for and a new missile we are developing that does not fit on the F35s the RAF are buying… soo well planned.
Six (and a bit) billion sterling for the carriers
I don’t agree we have the wrong F35 variant. It just needs to be properly supported with ££££.
None of the F35 variants will have FCAS etc
This is the problem with the budgets for carrier fast air being RAF controlled. Carriers are not their priority when budgets are super stretched.
with all the British F35 news i’ve been reading lately, one can’t help but come to the conclusion that this procurement was a very big mistake that had no planning or foresight and no roadmap to its name.
I admire their dogged determination to make sure the money invested in the carriers, instead of the escort fleet, is put to waste.
Adding these weapons to give our carriers some serious punch, what a shame, I guess they’ll have to stick to air-to-air missiles and bombs.