Flight International reports this week on remarks by Air Commodore Chris Bushell, leader of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) project team in charge of the fighter.
"In procuring these 40 Tranche 3 aircraft the UK will have met its commitment," said the air commodore. "We will have fulfilled our obligation, but retain the option to purchase more aircraft downstream should we wish to."
The UK was generally believed to be committed to the purchase of 232 aircraft, as a result of negotiations in the 1990s between the partner nations producing the plane - Britain, Germany, Spain and Italy. The amount of work done in each country was dependent on the number of orders to be placed, meaning that the UK's large order was very lucrative for BAE Systems plc.
However since the international agreement was inked it has long since become apparent that the RAF cannot use 232 aircraft, and that if so many were delivered large numbers would sit in mothballs, perhaps never seeing use. This previously occurred in the 1990s with the equally-controversial Tornado F3 fighter - also a BAE product - now being replaced by the Eurofighter.
It was thought that any attempt to renege on the 232-jet promise by Blighty would lead to stinging financial penalties under the original agreement, but it would appear that the plane's lamentable history of cost overruns has given Whitehall a bailout option.