Andrew Rosindell – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Ministry of Defence

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Andrew Rosindell on 2016-06-28.

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what assessment his Department has made of the additional cost of repairing the F35 in the USA rather than the UK during its lifetime; and if he will take steps to allow the electronics of the F35 to be repaired in the UK.

Mr Philip Dunne

The UK Lightning Force will be able to conduct all necessary maintenance of the F-35 aircraft at RAF Marham, including electronic equipment, following aircraft arrival in 2018. When components cannot be repaired on the front line and need to be returned to industry, this will be done via a global network of depots. The global repair network will be adopted by all of the F-35 partners and offers significant benefits in terms of economies of scale and operational availability. It does not mean that components specifically have to go back to the US for repair.

The UK has a through life cost for the F-35, which includes repair costs. I am withholding this information as it has the potential to undermine the UK’s commercial position when negotiating contracts with industry.