Select committee: Public Accounts Committee
Conclusion 6
51st Report - The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability
Published 31 Oct 2025
Addressed to HM Treasury
Public Accounts Committee The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Department has not set out its preferred mix of F-35As and Bs, nor forecast the costs of introducing the F-35As in their nuclear weapons role. The 48 aircraft that the Department has contracted for so far are all F-35Bs, which can be flown from land or aircraft carriers. In June 2025 the Department announced that in its next phase of procurement it intended to buy 12 F-35As alongside 15 F-35Bs. The Department told us that the F35As would both act as training aircraft, where its additional range will be valuable in enabling longer training flights, and join the NATO dual capable aircraft nuclear mission. Only the F-35A variant can carry nuclear weapons. The Department acknowledged that becoming certified for the NATO nuclear mission will add new requirements to training, personnel and possibly infrastructure. The Department is speaking to other nations in the NATO mission about requirements for certification. This work is at an early stage and the Department did not provide any indication of forecast costs. recommendation The Department should update the committee in six months on what it expects the additional whole-life costs of operating Dual Capable Aircraft will be, and how long it will take to prepare the necessary arrangements. 5 1 F-35 capability requirements Introduction
From: Public Accounts Committee, 51st Report - The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability (HC 1232), 31 October 2025
Government response
Latest Treasury Minutes progress report to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-first Report of Session 2024-26
The government responded to the whole report on 4 June 2026 (deadline 31 December 2025).
Treasury minutes: Government response to the Committee of Public Accounts on the Fifty-first report from Session 2024-26
Published 19 January 2026.
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government agrees with most of the Committee's recommendations on the F-35, disagreeing on a F-35-specific workforce plan and on updating the Committee on Dual Capable Aircraft costs.
- On Full Operating Capability, the government agrees that criteria should take account of capability gaps and sustainment, with a target implementation date of November 2026.
- It agrees to write to the Committee by 30 April 2026 on increasing F-35 availability, saying the longer timeline is needed to draw on lessons from Carrier Strike Group 25.
- It disagrees with producing an F-35-specific recruitment and retention plan and will instead address the issue through the "ongoing RAF People Campaign".
- On RAF Marham accommodation, it will write by 31 May 2026 to advise "whether" the current timescale can be brought forward, after infrastructure requirements are reassessed following the Defence Investment Plan.