5th Special Report - Unclear for take-off? F-35 Procurement: Responses to the Committee's Second Report

This is the government's response, published 26 February 2018.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the Committee's report and states it "remains committed to delivering the F-35 programme on time and within budget", while clarifying the SDSR 15 commitment on 138 aircraft.

• On a MADL gateway translation node, it does not commit to procurement. Further Babel Fish trials will form "the basis of a cost/benefit analysis for consideration in the MoD's annual investment planning process".
• On costs, it disputes that the commitment is open-ended and "strongly refutes any suggestion that there is a lack of transparency". It gives a cost estimate of circa £13 billion for the first 48 aircraft and support to 2048.
• It maintains that "speculative estimates" for the remaining 90 aircraft "would prove to be inaccurate and misleading", as their timing, variant and budget are yet to be determined.
• It says it "would be content to provide six-monthly updates" to the Committee, "within the constraints of classification and commercial sensitivity". It also acknowledges that sending the ministerial letter only to Government-side Members was "a regrettable oversight" and will distribute such letters to all Members in future.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error