Britain has now signed a memorandum of understanding on the production and follow-on development portions of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program. Despite sticky wickets earlier this year over the extent of technical cooperation the US would extend to Britain, the United Kingdom on Tuesday joined Australia (separately Dec. 12), Canada (Dec. 11), and Netherlands (Nov. 14) in signing MOAs to continue cooperating on the JSF. US defense officials expect the other countries—Denmark, Italy, Norway, and Turkey— in the original nine-member partnership to sign MOAs soon.
The Air Force budget would grow to $234 billion while Space Force spending would shrink to $26 billion under the White House's yearly ask.