UK Readies to Pay Millions of Dollars for 'Hidden Costs' of US F-35 Fighter Jets

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The Times newspaper reported, citing its investigation that analysis of 44 contracts for purchase of the aircraft suggests, that the total cost for every F-35 jet delivered in 2017 was between 130 million UK pounds ($182 million) and 155 million pounds. This was in spite of the fact that the aircraft manufacturer Lockheed Martin had initially stated that the jets’ cost would be between 77 and 100 million pounds each. Such figures and estimates are not public, the newspaper noted.

The reports listed a number of the aircraft’s drawbacks, including, among others, the jet’s inability to transmit data to UK ships or older planes without revealing its position to the enemy, its vulnerability to cyberattacks, and London’s inability to test the jet’s security independently.

Gen. Richard Barrons, who has been in charge of the UK military’s information networks until 2016, said that it was "utterly pathetic" that the United Kingdom had prioritized "metal and platforms" over "warfare in the information age," according to the newspaper.

The United Kingdom will purchase a total of 138 F-35 jets, the report noted.

Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II a single-seat, single-engine fighter aircraft designed for many missions with advanced, integrated sensors built into every aircraft.