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The UK is a Tier 1 partner alongside the USA in the F-35 Lightning II program, with an investment to date of about $2 billion and plans to equip its future carrier force with up to 150 F-35B STOVL (Short Take-Off, Vertical Landing) aircraft. UK Minister of State for Defence Procurement, Lord Drayson, in a December 12 release:
“After an excellent meeting with Gordon England, I am delighted to be able to sign this MoU which will take the UK into the next phase of the JSF programme. I have always been clear that the UK would only sign if we were satisfied that we would have operational sovereignty over our aircraft. I have today received the necessary assurances from the US on technology transfer to allow me to sign the MoU.
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…The MoU sets out the framework for purchasing JSF and supporting and upgrading it through life. It also provides for the pooling of the partner nations’ collective buying power in a common support solution, and of their resources and technology in follow-on development. It does not, however, formally commit the UK to buying any aircraft.” [DID: that would require a specific production contract setting out type, numbers, price, contractors, other services, et. al.].