Netherlands and US defense officials formally signed a memorandum of understanding yesterday to engage the Dutch in the production and development stages of the Joint Strike Fighter program. Netherlands, which has been part of the JSF program since 1997, plans to purchase 85 conventional take-off and landing variants of the F-35. Another JSF participant, Turkey, signaled its intent to sign an MOU, committing itself to buy about 100 JSFs.
The United Kingdom’s Royal Air Force has unveiled a new electronic warfare drone designed to fly with fighter jets into contested airspace, including alongside its fleet of F-35s. RAF says it plans to develop models that draw on the U.S. Air Force’s approach of mating unmanned systems with crewed platforms.