How the hell will we tank them to get them in range of the enemy???
UK Air Force Mulls F-35A Benefits as US Jets Visit England
FAIRFORD, England —The British public got its first taste of the F-35B short takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) aircraft purchased for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal Navy at an air show Friday, and it’s just possible they also got a glimpse of the next combat jet in line for purchase........
British F-35 officials at the show confirmed there is interest in the conventional takeoff version and that the issue could start to be addressed as soon as the next strategic defence and security review (SDSR), currently scheduled for 2020.
“What we will do as we go forward into the next SDSR is look at the force mix,” said Air Commodore Linc Taylor, the Royal Air Force officer responsible for delivery of the British F-35 program. “There is an absolute benefit to maximizing combat air power with interoperability with Typhoon and the capability from the [aircraft] carrier. We will look at all of those options as we go forward into the next SDSR,” Taylor said to reporters at RIAT.
Britain’s combat air fleet will be based around the Eurofighter Typhoon and F-35B once the RAF’s Tornado strike jet is pensioned off in 2019. Taylor said the F-35A could bring something to the force mix the other jets couldn’t match. “The F-35A offers you a greater range and greater payload. There may be space for an 'A' variant so we will look at 'A' and 'B's in the future, but not the 'C's,” Taylor said. “The F-35 and Typhoon have complimentary qualities but the Typhoon is not low-observable, it can’t get to where the F-35 can get to.".........
The F-35A has been on the RAF’s wish list for a long while, according to Doug Barrier, the senior air analyst at the London-based think tank International Institute for Strategic Studies.
“There has been a long-standing interest on the part of the RAF in the F-35A to meet some of the roles now addressed by Tornado GR4. Greater range and payload performance than the 'B' model, and commonality with the USAF, are likely part of the draw,” he said. “The ground-attack role post the Tornado GR4’s retirement could eventually be divided between the Typhoon — equipped with the Storm Shadow long-range land-attack cruise missile and other weapons — and the F-35A, with the latter offering the ability to penetrate airspace defended by high-end threat systems, using medium air-to-surface weapons such as the MBDA SPEAR 3 now in development,” Barrie said.........