Originally Posted by
KenV
Don't know if this counts as "good" news, but I'm confident that the orthodox believers will find a way to show this is "bad" news.
Britain To Start Construction Of F-35 Facilities
LONDON — Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and British building firm Balfour Beatty have been contracted by the U.K. defense ministry to build the new facilities that
will support and house the British F-35 fleet. The three companies will share a £142 million ($200 million) to construct three facilities at RAF Marham, Norfolk, the base
selected to become the main operating location for Britain’s F-35 Lightning Force, jointly run by the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy.
The three facilities will include a Logistic Operations Center, an Integrated Training Center and a Maintenance and Final Finishes center responsible for the maintenance of the aircraft and its low-observability stealth coatings. The three buildings will be a key element in the U.K.’s requirement for a so-called Freedom of Action capability allowing Britain to conduct F-35 operations independently. Work on the new facilities will begin in the next few weeks, Lockheed Martin U.K. announced April 7, with the facilities due to be ready for the first British frontline F-35 unit, 617 Sqn. – known as The Dambusters — to begin using them during the summer of 2018.
Of the £142 million, £118 million has been awarded to PROGRAMS subcontractor BAE Systems, who will manage the project, while £82.5 million will go Balfour Beatty for the construction work itself.
Three separate contracts for the U.K. Defense Infrastructure Organization (DIO), worth a total of £25 million, have been awarded to prepare electrical power supplies, local utilities and demolish old buildings to make way for the new F-35 facilities. The announcement coincides with the completion of the tenth aft section being built for the U.K.’s F-35 fleet.
Britain currently has four F-35Bs operational: three at Edwards AFB, California, and one located at MCAS Beaufort, South Carolina, to support training. The size of the U.K. fleet should double during 2016 with the arrival of four more aircraft, the first of which, BK-5, is expected at Beaufort in May. The rest of the aircraft also will be delivered to Beaufort, allowing the U.K. to begin standing up 617 Sqn. from within a U.S. Marine Corps unit, VMFAT-501, during 2018. 617 Sqn. will move back to the U.K. in the summer of 2018 and move into the new facilities at Marham. Additional works also are planned for Marham including the construction of hover pads and improvements to taxiways and runways ready for F-35 operations. The DIO has been asked by Aviation Week when work on this additional infrastructure will
get underway, but the organization had not replied at the time of publication.
As the saying goes, follow the money.
Well it is Grand National weekend [when even bed ridden grannies make to the bookies then lie screaming at the telly] -anythings worth a punt
However, and more importantly, this is a decisive step towards UK ownership of rights to maintain, modify and develop those F35B and their systems, which are in UK service, to meet UK service requirements.