Recommendation 26

In 2013 the Department set out a whole-life cost for the F-35 programme of £18.4 billion, although this only covered the first 48 aircraft out of the 138 that the UK has announced it intends to buy. Before the publication of the National Audit Office report in 2025 this figure had only increased to £18.76 billion and had not taken account of the changed out-of-service date from 2048 to 2069.57 The Department has since published a whole-life cost for 138 aircraft out to 2069 of £57 billion. In correspondence provided after our evidence session the Department stated that this figure was based on the A variant for the final 63 aircraft, which is cheaper than the B variant, and that it does not include related costs such as personnel, infrastructure and fuel.58 The National Audit Office calculated that if these related costs were included the whole-life cost would be £71 billion.59