First F-35 Jump Jet Handed Over - The MOD has received its first inaugural F-35B Joint Strike Fighter, named LIGHTNING II in British service with the Fleet Air Arm and RAF service.     At a ceremony in Fort Worth, Texas, the Defence Secretary formally accepted the first of short take off and vertical landing F-35B - the UK is the first country outside the US to receive an F35 – three have been ordered initially for evaluation and trials – and the Defence Secretary announced that the MOD intended to order a fourth LIGHTNING II aircraft next year.    There is already a Royal Navy team Stateside working on the F35 project, including engineers and technicians at Pax River, the US Navy’s Test Flight School outside Washington DC.      The LIGHTNING 11 will be operational from land based airfields from 2018, when it will also begin flight trials on the Aircraft Carrier QUEEN ELIZABETH. When the production models enter service they will probably based at RAF Marham near King’s Lynn (Norfolk)

The importance to GBUK Ltd of the Joint Strike Fighter is clear as one seventh of work on the project is carried out in the UK – some 130 British companies contribute to the supply chain, which will be worth over £1bn to UK industry each year and will support around 25,000 British jobs over the next quarter of a century.