🇬🇧 UK completes initial F-35B batch as future plans remain unclear

 

The United Kingdom has taken delivery of the final F-35B Lightning II from its initial 48-aircraft order, marking the completion of the programme’s first acquisition phase.

In practice, the fleet stands at 47 aircraft, following the loss of one airframe during a 2021 incident involving the HMS Queen Elizabeth.

The aircraft are jointly operated by the Royal Air Force and Royal Navy, primarily through 617 Squadron based at RAF Marham. This joint model underpins both land-based and carrier operations.

Recent deliveries have been made in the F-35’s Technical Refresh 3 (TR-3) configuration, which has yet to achieve full operational certification, leaving part of the fleet not fully cleared for combat use.

Operationally, the aircraft are already in active use. A contingent is currently deployed to RAF Akrotiri, where they have been involved in defensive missions across the eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East. These include air defence tasks over Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates amid heightened regional tensions. 

Beyond this milestone, the next phase of the programme remains undefined. The UK’s long-delayed Defence Investment Plan is expected to clarify future procurement.

Current planning, however, indicates a shift. The next tranche—originally expected to consist of 27 additional F-35Bs—is being revised to include a mixed fleet, with 12 F-35A Lightning II for the RAF. These aircraft are intended to restore the UK’s nuclear delivery capability within NATO frameworks.

While the UK maintains a long-term requirement for up to 138 aircraft, no clear timeline or firm commitment exists for reaching that figure. The programme has therefore entered a transition phase, with key structural decisions still pending.

First overseas deployment of RAF F-35Bs to Cyprus for EXERCISE LIGHTNING DAWN

The Royal Air Force’s newest fighter left its home base for RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus to take part in its first overseas exercise following introduction.
Several F-35B Lightning aircraft from 617 Squadron, flew from their base at RAF Marham in Norfolk to spend six weeks at RAF Akrotiri as part of Exercise Lightning Dawn.
Owned and operated by the RAF, the Lightning Force is jointly manned by both the Royal Air Force and the Royal Navy.
raf

Sweden sends Gulfstream S102B Korpen electronic intelligence (ELINT) surveillance aircraft to RAF Akrotiri

Sweden has dispatched one of its Gulfstream S102B Korpen electronic intelligence (ELINT) aircraft to the Mediterranean to operate from a UK airbase on Cyprus.
The Korpen was tracked by open source monitoring of its ADS-B transponder as it flew down into the central Mediterranean and then landed at Royal Air Force (RAF) Akrotiri on 29 April.
A Swedish Ministry of Defence spokesman confirmed the deployment to Cyprus, saying that “the aircraft is on a signal reconnaissance mission in international airspace over the Mediterranean Sea”.
The spokesman declined to provide further details of the mission or its duration.
An RAF source told on 30 April that the service “often assists allied nations with fuel and stopovers, so this is nothing unusual”.
This is the second deployment of an S102B to the Mediterranean after one of the Swedish Air Force’s (SwAF's) two Korpens, which are normally assigned to 73 Signals Intelligence at Linköping in southern Sweden, operated from Cyprus for just over a week in April–May 2018.
Tim Ripley, janes

RAF Typhoons attack Syria for the first time

RAF jets have carried out their second set of air strikes in Syria since MPs backed military action against so-called Islamic State in the country.
The Omar oil fields were targeted for the second time, using two Tornados and, for the first time, two Typhoons.
Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, who is visiting the British base for the Syria mission in Cyprus, said: "Last night saw the full force of the RAF."
Four Tornado jets launched the first UK air strikes in Syria on Thursday.
Bombing began hours after MPs gave their backing for military action, with the oil fields, which are in eastern Syria, targeted.
During his visit to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, Mr Fallon thanked military personnel.
He made no assurances about the length of the campaign, telling them only it was "not going to be short or simple".
bbc.com

UK says French can use Cyprus RAF base for Syria strikes on Isil

Britain has offered the French air force the use of RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus to mount air strikes on Islamic State targets in Syria.
David Cameron said the UK would do "all in our power" to support France in its fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (Isil) in the wake of the Paris terror attacks.
telegraph

Tornado Brimstone incident halts UK operations against Islamic State

An inquiry has been launched after two MBDA Brimstone missiles 'fell' from a Royal Air Force (RAF) Panavia Tornado GR4 fighter as it landed at Akrotiri in Cyprus on 15 July, as it returned from anti-Islamic State operations over Iraq.
Part of the air base was evacuated as a precaution while teams retrieved the two detached missiles from the closed runway.
The Brimstone missiles became dislodged as the Tornado GR4 aircraft carrying them landed in poor weather conditions. It could have happened because of a high angle of attack..
Six RAF Tornado GR4 fighter bombers are based at RAF Akrotiri taking part in operations against Islamic State militants.
janes

RAF A400M First Operational Payload Mission To RAF Akrotiri, Cyprus

The aircraft, ‘City of Bristol’, flew into RAF Akrotiri delivering operational freight, making this training flight also Atlas’ first operational tasking.
The aircraft performed well throughout all phases of flight.
raf

UK RAF deploys AWACS against Islamic State

Coalition air operations against the Islamic State have been bolstered by the deployment of a UK Boeing E-3D Sentry AWACS aircraft to RAF Akrotiri on Cyprus.
The deployment of the aircraft on 28 January from the 8 Squadron at RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire was revealed in an announcement posted on the UK Ministry of Defence's Twitter feed later that day.
It followed an announcement by UK Prime Minister David Cameron in Washington, DC, on 16 January that the RAF's ISTAR capability committed to Operation 'Shader', as the UK mission in Iraq and Syria is code-named, would be enhanced.
janes

RAF Units Return From Cyprus

RAF units deployed to Cyprus as part of the UK response to the recent crisis in the Middle East have returned home.
Aircraft and personnel from 121 Expeditionary Air Wing (EAW) were sent to region earlier this year as a contingency measure to protect the two Sovereign Base Areas on the island, which are home to more than 6000 British service personnel.
The unit Typhoon jets, E-3D Sentry early warning aircraft, supported by Tristar air-to-air refuelling tankers, RAF Regiment Force Protection personnel, and fighter controllers.
Aircraft from 121 EAW were able to conduct sorties from Cyprus within hours of arriving on 24 August to reduce the threat potentially posed at the height of the recent turmoil.

They included;

· XI Squadron Typhoons from RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire which over the two and a half months of the operation flew 224 sorties

· 8 Squadron E-3D Sentry aircraft from RAF Waddington in Lincolnshire which routinely flew 10 sorties, seven-days-a-week, to provide command and control of other aircraft.

· 216 Squadron Tristar tankers from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire which provided air-to-air refuelling.

· 1 Air Control Centre from RAF Scampton in Lincolnshire which deployed its Type 101 radar to provide round-the-clock radar coverage and tactical control of aircraft during sorties.

· Number 5 Force Protection Wing from RAF Brize Norton in Oxfordshire which assumed responsibility for security at RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus within 12 hours of arriving.

The deployed force was followed by the Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS DRAGON.
The deployment also required RAF units to operate in a multinational environment including conducting joint operations with the American aircraft carrier USS NIMITZ and the French destroyer CHEVALIER PAUL.
raf

Assad launched two Syrian Air Force Su-24 attack planes towards Cyprus to probe British airbase’s air defenses

Last week it was reported that RAF deployed Typhoons to Cyprus, were scrambled from the British base at Akrotiri whereas two Turkish Air Force took off from Incirlik airbase and headed towards the island.
In the following days, more details about the Cyprus incident emerged.
British MoD confirmed yesterday that Typhoon Air Defence Aircraft were launched from RAF Akrotiri to investigate unidentified aircraft over the Eastern Mediterranean; flying legally in international airspace and no intercept was required.
On Sept. 8, The Sunday People / Sunday Mirror revealed that Syrian Su-24 Fencers were actually involved.
“RAF Typhoon fighters won a mid-air showdown with two Syrian warplanes heading towards Britain’s main base in Cyprus, the Sunday People can ­reveal. The dramatic confrontation came after President Bashar al-Assad’s air chiefs sent two Russian-made Sukhoi Su-24s to probe our air defences. The Syrian bombers refused to respond to repeated attempts by the control tower at the UK’s Akrotiri air base to contact them.”
RAF Typhoons from the IX Sqn in QRA (Quick Reaction Alert) duty on the island, were scrambled before the Su-24s, that were flying in international airspace and were spotted by a flying E-3D AWACS could enter the 14-mile air exclusion zone. Otherwise, they would have been intercepted and identificated, and eventually escorted out of the restricted airspace.
Buzzing the enemy airspace to test its reaction time or actively disturbing the enemy training activities is not rare.
For instance, the Turkish RF-4E Phantom shot down by Syria in 2012 was probably violating the Syrian airspace to probe Damascus’s air defense readiness.
theaviationist