'glojo' asked: "...Did we pay any money for any aircraft to be converted to Marine Corps specifications even though I am guessing we might not have made this exchange?? We seem to be giving the Marine Corps our 'Crown Jewels, so why not give them some money as well?
what are the differences between the Marine Corps 35B and the UK aircraft?..."
Vagaries Continue To Cloud U.K. F-35 Agenda Aug 15,
2011 By Robert Wall
Vagaries Continue To Cloud U.K. F-35 Agenda
...Also still in process is an effort by the U.K. to switch one of three F-35s bought for the JSF test program from the
B to the C model. The U.S. Congress must approve the move, as the U.S. would swap an F-35C to be bought in the sixth low-rate initial production (LRIP) lot for an F-35B the U.K. funded in LRIP 4.
The Pentagon says, The proposed exchange would benefit both participants the exchange would provide the U.S. with a Stovl aircraft 24 months earlier than planned to support maturity assessments and training needs; it would allow the U.K. to avoid the costs of a CV aircraft for operational test, and it would increase operational test capacity through the use of an instrumented CV aircraft in the LRIP 6 time frame.
The move should come with no financial penalty to U.S. taxpayers. The U.K. would bear the costs of upgrading and modifying the LRIP 4 Stovl aircraft to the more advanced LRIP 6 configuration. In addition,
the U.K. would be responsible for bearing the costs of incorporating flight-test instrumentation of the CV aircraft as well as any other U.K.-unique CV aircraft requirements, says the Pentagon. A U.K. defense official insists any costs associated with the change are already budgeted....