Lengthy article on Flight Global on UK progress. All sounds very positive.
Sixteen years after signing up as a Level 1 partner on the US military's Joint Strike Fighter programme, the UK is now just months away from welcoming its first examples of the Lockheed Martin F-35B to home shores.
Nine F-35Bs will arrive at RAF Marham in mid-2018, after making a transatlantic crossing accompanied by Airbus A330 Voyager tanker/transports. The STOVL aircraft will support the work-up process for the reformed 617 Sqn, which should achieve initial operational capability next December. Bradshaw says the unit will be cleared to deploy on international operations from early 2019, with its Block 3F software-standard aircraft having a UK-specific weapons fit comprising Raytheon Systems Paveway IV precision-guided bombs, plus MBDA ASRAAM and Raytheon AIM-120 AMRAAM air-to-air missiles. Later, Block 4 additions will include MBDA's Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile and its extended-range Spear ground-attack weapon.
Bradshaw says 2018 "is going to be momentous", noting that the new type's introduction will occur during the centenary year of the RAF's formation. The F-35B will, however, be a shared asset in UK service.