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Written question asked by Ben Obese-Jecty (Conservative) on Wednesday, 5 November 2025, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Tuesday, 11 November 2025. It was answered by Luke Pollard (Labour) on Monday, 17 November 2025 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

F-35 Aircraft

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to paragraph 11 of the Fifty-First Report of the Committee of Public Accounts, entitled The UK’s F-35 stealth fighter capability, HC 1232, for what reason the UK F-35 fleet achieved approximately one-third of the target for the time it was able to fly all its required missions in 2024.

Answer

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) does not release availability data for operational security reasons; the National Audit Office (NAO) reporting of this metric was also appropriately redacted for this reason. The standard availability metric used by the NAO assumes that the assets are available 24/7; which skews the metric when calculating MOD capability usage, particularly Combat Air, as we do not keep the assets airborne 24/7.

There were a range of factors in the reported October 2024-January 2025 period including Force regeneration as part of standard Force Readiness cycles, and periods of planned personnel leave. This included a period when both Squadrons were deployed to a Carrier for an Exercise, routine post exercise regeneration with personnel leave and scheduled aircraft maintenance for many of the aircraft, and the Christmas and New Year leave period.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
88471
Session
2024-26
Related items
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
F-35 aircraft
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk