Britain has abandoned equipping its new class of aircraft carriers with the catapults and arresting gear needed to operate the F-35C strike fighter, opting instead to procure the F-35B short-takeoff, vertical-landing variant once again, declared Defense Minister Phillip Hammond May 10. The UK government’s original decision in 2010 to abandon the F-35B in favor of the longer range, carrier-optimized F-35C “was right at the time, but the facts have changed and therefore so, too, must our approach,” said Hammond, in announcing the decision to the British parliament. Hammond reasoned that the estimated cost of fitting Britain’s two Queen Elizabeth II-class carriers with electromagnetic catapults had “doubled” since 2010, outweighing the anticipated operational benefits. The F-35C “no longer represents the best way . . . and I am not prepared to tolerate a three-year further delay to reintroducing our carrier strike capability,” he said. Britain’s first F-35B is scheduled to enter service this summer, beginning carrier trials aboard HMS Queen Elizabeth II in 2018, according to Hammond.
Former AFCENT Commander Reflects on Lessons of Epic Fury
Sept. 13, 2026
Operation Epic Fury marked the U.S. military's largest air campaign in a generation, with strikes on 13,000 targets in Iran before the first in a series of shaky ceasefires began in April. Now, even as hostilities continue to flare up, Lt. Gen. Derek C. France sees several clear lessons that…
