§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the F35 aircraft to reach the end of its service life. [75955]
§ Dr. MoonieOn current plans, the United Kingdom's Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft is expected to remain in service until the 2040s.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what aspects of the design, development, equipment, manufacture and maintenance of the F35 aircraft are included in his estimates of the through-life costs of acquiring and operating these aircraft; and what costs of their deployment and operation are not included in his estimates; [75953]
(2) what aspects of the design, development, manufacture, equipment and maintenance of the F35 aircraft were included in the intention to acquire up to 150 aircraft at a cost of up to £10 billion announced by his Department on 30 September; [75952]
§ Dr. MoonieWe currently estimate that the whole life cost of the United Kingdom's planned force of Joint Strike Fighters will be up to £28 billion in full resource terms, through to 2042. This includes acquisition costs of up to £10 billion dependent on aircraft numbers and how they are to be supported through life.
Development costs include the United Kingdom's contribution to the JSF Prime Contractor (Lockheed Martin) as covered by the System Development and Demonstration MOU, which we signed with the US in January 2001. They also include funding for the integration of certain United Kingdom weapons systems to be selected in due course, securing JSF's compatibility with United Kingdom Command and Control arrangements and ensuring compliance with our safety and environmental requirements.
Acquisition costs include the manufacture of complete aircraft including their engines and also certain related activities such as the provision of flight simulators. The production of weapons for operational use is not included within the whole life cost of JSF.
Maintenance and other in-service support costs are not included in the £10Bn but are in the £28 billion. The in-service support costs include the provision of spares, fuel, training, storage, aircrew, ground-crew and station personnel, and flying station service costs including utilities, and the maintenance of runways and hangars.
§ Mr. Gerald HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what payments he expects to make in each financial year from 2003–04 to 2011–12 in respect of the design, development, manufacture and purchase of the F35 aircraft; [75951]
146W(2) what payments he has made and plans to make in the present financial year in respect of the design, development and manufacture of the F35 aircraft. [75949]
(3) what payments he expects to make in respect of the F35 aircraft in the financial year 2012–13 and each succeeding financial year while the aircraft is in service. [75956]
§ Dr. MoonieWe anticipate that the whole life cost of the United Kingdom's planned force of Joint Strike Fighters will be up to £28 billion in full resource terms. This includes up to £10 billion for the development and manufacture of Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) aircraft to meet our Future Joint Combat Aircraft (FJCA) requirement, dependent on the number of aircraft acquired and how they are to be supported through life. Of this figure, we forecast that some £2 billion will be spent on development activity.
I am withholding the information regarding the annual profile of this expenditure under Exemptions 2 and 7 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.