UK F-35 aircraft are being procured in ‘Tranches’, in line with Defence need. Delivery of our Tranche 1 buy (48 aircraft) will complete by 2025. The Government has outlined plans to buy a further 27 aircraft as part of a second procurement phase, which we expect to complete in the early part of the next decade. We expect the production line to continue to run for many years. We will consider again in the mid-2020s the F-35 fleet size as part of the next Strategic Defence Review

The UK took the opportunity to embed personnel with the US Marine Corps and jointly develop the operational capability of the F35-B Lightning aircraft. By taking this collaborative approach, the UK has been able to train its personnel in advance of establishing our own Lightning footprint in the UK.

In July this year, personnel returned from the US to establish the Operational Conversion Unit at RAF Marham to enable the UK to conduct its own training.

The UK continues to work closely with its allies to develop the F-35 programme to ensure freedom of action having initially exploited this collaborative route to training.

The integration of Meteor and the SPEAR Capability 3 precision surface attack missile onto F-35 Lightning is in its early stages and therefore a definitive timeframe for its completion has yet to be fully established. We do, however, anticipate a completion timescale of 2024/25.

The Ministry of Defence has invested £300 million to prepare RAF Marham for the F-35 Lightning jets, including resurfacing the second runway with little to no impact on Tornado operations. All elements of the infrastructure programme at RAF Marham are expected to be completed to meet programme needs.

The first four UK F-35 Lightning jets arrived at RAF Marham on 6 June 2018, two months ahead of schedule, 617 Squadron will continue their operational work-up training in readiness for their Initial Operating Capability, which is expected to be reached by the end of this year.

The UK Lightning Force will be able to conduct all necessary maintenance of the F-35 aircraft at RAF Marham, including electronic equipment, following aircraft arrival in 2018. When components cannot be repaired on the front line and need to be returned to industry, this will be done via a global network of depots. The global repair network will be adopted by all of the F-35 partners and offers significant benefits in terms of economies of scale and operational availability. It does not mean that components specifically have to go back to the US for repair.

The UK has a through life cost for the F-35, which includes repair costs. I am withholding this information as it has the potential to undermine the UK's commercial position when negotiating contracts with industry.

The UK Lightning Force will be able to conduct all necessary maintenance of the F-35 aircraft at RAF Marham, including electronic equipment, following aircraft arrival in 2018. When components cannot be repaired on the front line and need to be returned to industry, this will be done via a global network of depots. The global repair network will be adopted by all of the F-35 partners and offers significant benefits in terms of economies of scale and operational availability. It does not mean that components specifically have to go back to the US for repair.

The UK has a through life cost for the F-35, which includes repair costs. I am withholding this information as it has the potential to undermine the UK's commercial position when negotiating contracts with industry.

I had a successful bilateral meeting with Bob Work, the US Deputy Secretary of Defence, only last Friday, at which the F-35 programme came up. Aircraft costs are in line with estimates, operational capability is expanding and fleet reliability is improving as more aircraft come on stream and into the programme, and logistic support increases. The aircraft remains on schedule to meet our initial operating capability in December 2018.

The outstanding air-to-ground capability of our Tornado squadrons is being steadily migrated on to the Typhoon platform initially. In November’s SDSR, we secured considerable investment in the RAF combat jet fleets, including the extension of our Tornado squadrons’ out-of-service date to 2018-19, an increase in our Typhoon fleet by two squadrons, and the extension of the Typhoon out-of-service date to 2040. In addition, we reaffirmed our commitment to acquiring a total of 138 F-35s during the life of the programme and buying more aircraft earlier, so that we have 24 F-35 Lightning IIs by 2023.

The trial aboard the USS Wasp was an operational test for the United States Marine Corps (USMC) F-35B, with much of the data produced being used to inform the USMC's declaration of initial operating capability. This achievement was a significant milestone for the USMC and for the wider Joint Strike Fighter programme, particularly for the UK which operates the same Short Take-Off Vertical Landing variant.

UK personnel were fully embedded in the USS Wasp trial and we will use the data gathered from this event, future trials and operational deployments to support our own flying trials aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth in 2018 as we re-generate the UK's Carrier Strike capability.

The Ministry of Defence continually reviews its force structure and basing options, but at present there are no plans to station UK F-35 aircraft in the Falkland Islands following their acceptance into service.

The UK is committed to the purchase of the short take off vertical landing variant of the Joint Strike Fighter and took delivery of its first two aircraft in July and October 2012, with both being used for initial operational test and evaluation. A third aircraft is on schedule for delivery in the second quarter of 2013. The UK will commence training for pilots and maintainers in December 2012 at Eglin Air Force Base in the US.

As announced in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) we plan to deliver a carrier strike capability from around 2020 with embarked trials scheduled for 2018.

Under current planning assumptions, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter has a provisional initial operating capability of 2018, with the aircraft's in-service date not due to be finalised until its next investment decision point. As stated in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, it is the UK's intention to have the Carrier Strike capability from 2020.

The first two test and evaluation aircraft were delivered this summer. The first production aircraft are expected to be delivered in 2016.

The F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is a fifth-generation aircraft that represents a step change in capability compared to the third generation Harrier. Unlike the Harrier, it is an all-weather stealth aircraft with an autonomous intelligence-gathering capability, and it has significantly greater range and speed. It can also carry a larger payload of more advanced weapons than the Harrier.

The Queen Elizabeth Class carriers and F-35B short take off vertical landing variant of the joint strike fighter will deliver the UK's carrier strike capability, as well as providing support to amphibious operations and broader Government interests worldwide. The decision to revert to the F-35B joint strike fighter has given us the option to use both carriers to provide continuous carrier availability should we decide to do so. A final decision on the use of the second carrier will be taken as part of the strategic defence and security review in 2015.