Military Procurement International Vol. 19, No. 7, April 1, 2009
Copyright DAPSS S.A., 200
9, Switzerland. It is unlawful to reproduce any of this publication without written permission from the publisher.
UNITED KINGDOM
To purchase three JSF test aircraft
Defence Secretary John Hutton announced on March 18 in Washington that he had signed the contract for three Lockheed Martin F-35B Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing (STOVL) Joint Strike Fighters to support Initial Operational Test and Evaluation (IOT&E) for the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force.
The first aircraft will be delivered in 2011, drawn from the JSF’s third Low Rate Initial Production (LRIP) batch. They will join a joint test team in the USA, which will also include at least one aircraft belonging to the Royal Netherlands Air Force.
The Ministry of Defence declined to comment on the value of the contract, but confirmed that it was in addition to its previously identified investment of £2 billion (US$2.9 billion) in the JSF program.