Lockheed Martin F-35B Lightning II ZM144 ‘010’on HMS Queen Elizabeth (R 08) on June 9, 2020, during initial Carrier Sea Training with the type. The newly published Defence Command Paper confirmed that more than the 48 F-35Bs currently on order will be acquired by the UK but failed to provide any indication as to how many more will be involved
MOD Crown copyright
A FURTHER series of defence cuts have been announced by the UK government as part of its future defence strategy, retiring older aircraft in order to fund new technology development.
Firstly, on March 16, the government published Global Britain in a Competitive Age: The Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, which sets out its vision for UK defence in 2030. This was a general overview and gave no real details of exactly what was to come.
