The planning for the future of the Royal Air Force involves supporting ongoing British military operations and the introduction of new aircraft types including unmanned aerial vehicles and the BAE Systems Tempest sixth-generation fighter in the 2030s. Priorities include greater focus on network enabled capability and mixing crewed fighter jets with UAVs and swarming drones.
The new initiative will focus on increasing interoperability with members of NATO and becoming carbon net-zero, with strategies such as using sustainable aviation fuels in aircraft. The Prime Minister has announced that twelve F-35As will be acquired in-part to deploy U.S. tactical nuclear weapons to bolster deterrence through NATO nuclear sharing.
Combat Air
F-35 Lightning II
The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II is a family of single-seat, single-engine, fifth generation multirole fighters under development to perform ground attack, reconnaissance, and air defence missions with stealth capability. It was selected for the UK's Joint Combat Aircraft requirement in 2001, having been selected initially to replace the Royal Navy's BAE Sea Harrier fighter, and latterly the existing Panavia Tornado GR.4 and Harrier GR.9 fleets (the latter already having been retired in late 2010), operating principally from the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.Wall, Robert."U.K. Cuts Aircraft Fleets in Strategic Review". Aviation Week, 19 October 2010. It will be the main component of the RAF's manned strike capability, and marks the return of a carrier-borne strike capability for the Fleet Air Arm for the first time in nearly a decade.
The version initially selected was the Short Take Off Vertical Landing (STOVL) variant of the F-35, known as the F-35B. In October 2010, David Cameron announced that the UK would change their order to the F-35C CATOBAR carrier variant for both the RAF and Navy. The F-35C variant features larger wings with folding wingtips and larger wing and tail control surfaces for improved low-speed control. This gives it a greater range and the ability to carry a larger and more diverse payload than the F-35B.
In May 2012, it was announced that the government had reverted to the previous plan to operate the STOVL F-35B, due to rising estimated shipbuilding costs associated with the CATOBAR variant F-35C, and an earlier estimated in-service date for the F-35B."U.K. Makes F-35 U-Turn to Cut Costs, Narrow Carrier-Defense Gap." Bloomberg News, 10 May 2012.
The delivery of the UK's first F-35B was made on 19 July 2012 at Fort Worth, Texas, for flight trials by the RAF and Royal Navy.
In 2015, the government's Strategic Defence and Security Review stated that the Government planned to order 138 F-35s, with 24 of them to be available for carrier duties by 2023. The 2021 defence white paper cut that number to "more than 48", with the First Sea Lord stating that the objective would be to increase the order to 60 initially and then "maybe more up to around 80". It was hoped that 4 deployable squadrons (combined RAF and Royal Navy) might still be formed. On 10 January 2019, initial operating capability for the UK's F-35B was announced. The UK is committed to improving its F-35Bs to Block 4 standard, however, the actual number of improved jets is yet to be known. In April 2022, the Deputy Chief of Defence Staff, Air Marshal Richard Knighton, told the House of Commons Defence Select Committee that the MoD was in discussions to purchase a second tranche of 26 F-35B fighters. Subsequent reports, later confirmed, suggested that this second tranche order would be completed in 2033.
Plans for frontline F-35B squadrons envisage a total of three frontline (RAF and RN) squadrons each deploying 12-16 aircraft. Two F-35B squadrons have been formed so far, one within the Fleet Air Arm of the Royal Navy (809 sqn), and one within the RAF (617 sqn). In surge conditions 24 F-35s might be deployed on one of the Queen Elizabeth-class carriers, but a routine deployment would likely involve 12 aircraft.
A September 2022 reported indicated that three additional aircraft were expected to be delivered in 2022 (delivery took place in November 2022), seven in 2023, four in 2024 and seven in 2025, completing the delivery of the planned 48 tranche 1, one of which was lost in 2021. This delivery schedule was superseded, and only 38 F-35s were in the UK inventory as of May 2025. The delivery of the final F-35Bs in the Tranche 1 order was finally completed in March 2026.
At the end of 2022, Defence Secretary Ben Wallace reported that the RAF and Royal Navy also faced a considerable challenge in providing even the existing modest F-35B fleet with qualified pilots. In late 2022 there were only 30 qualified British pilots for the F-35, plus three exchange pilots from the United States and Australia. The average wait time for RAF trainee Typhoon and F-35 pilots, after completing the Military Flying Training System, was approximately 11 and 12 months respectively. A further gap of 68 weeks existed between completing Basic Flying Training and beginning Advanced Fast Jet Training.
In February 2023, the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston, stated that the number of F-35 pilots had grown to 34 UK pilots with a further 7 to complete training by August 2023. In 2025 the National Audit Office reported that a consistent shortage of pilots remained, along with other shortages including of F-35 engineers. Pilot-to-aircraft ratios were reported at about 1:1, which were argued by some to be "far below the 1.3 to 1.5 considered healthy in most air forces".
At the 2025 NATO Summit at The Hague, Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced that the RAF will acquire twelve nuclear capable F-35A fighter jets. According to the MoD, the F-35As will be based at RAF Marham and used in a training role on a "day-to-day basis", due to their increased flight time and decreased maintenance requirements. The aircraft will be available to deploy in a tactical nuclear strike role to bolster NATO deterrence and to complement the capabilities of the Royal Navy's ballistic missile submarines. It is planned that the UK's pending Tranche 2 order for F-35 aircraft will comprise 15 F-35Bs and 12 F-35As. The F-35As were planned for delivery by 2030, but the 2026 defence investment plan modified this to the "early 2030s".
In October 2025, the Public Accounts Committee stated that the MOD did not know how much it would cost to operate the F-35As with plans "at an early stage". In 2025 the MOD had more than tripled its previous overall F-35 whole-life cost estimate to the new out of service date of 2069 to £57 billion, excluding non-equipment costs such as personnel, fuel and infrastructure, following a National Audit Office audit.
While officially the U.K. was still committed to acquiring 138 F-35s, now composed of both A and B variants, these will be acquired over a thirty-year period with 74 (both As and Bs) planned to be in service by 2033. The 2026 Defence Investment Plan did not confirm the order or specific timing for 15 additional F-35B aircraft, though it noted that 12 F-35A aircraft would likely be ordered for delivery in the early 2030s.
Current and future units No. 617 Squadron RAF, RAF Marham
Operational Conversion Units No. 207 Squadron RAF, RAF Marham
Operational Evaluation Units No. 17 Squadron RAF, Edwards Air Force Base
Typhoon
It was indicated in the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review that the RAF would retain its Tranche 1 Typhoons and use them to stand up an additional two squadrons. It was also announced that the aircraft would remain in service until 2040, ten years longer than previously planned. The 2021 defence white paper announced that the Tranche 1 Typhoons would instead be withdrawn from service by 2025, apart from four based in the Falkland Islands which might be retained.
For the more advanced Typhoons remaining in service, the Government also promised to invest further in Typhoon air-to-ground capabilities and in a new active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, as well as completing integration of the Storm Shadow and Brimstone missiles with the Typhoon. 107 Tranche 2 and 3 Typhoons will be equipped via "Project Centurion", allowing them to launch Meteor missiles, Brimstone and Storm Shadow missiles. The 2026 defence investment plan confirmed the continued investment of £1.1 billion to maintain and upgrade the services' fleet of Typhoon aircraft.
Frontline Units as of 2021 1(F) Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth 2(AC) Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth 3(F) Squadron, RAF Coningsby 6 Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth IX(B) Squadron, RAF Lossiemouth XI Squadron, RAF Coningsby 12 Squadron, RAF Coningsby 1435 Flight, RAF Mount Pleasant Operational Conversion Units 29 Squadron, RAF Coningsby Operational Evaluation Units 41 Squadron, RAF Coningsby
Combat Air Strategy and Team Tempest
At the 2018 Farnborough Airshow, UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced Team Tempest, a joint program office consisting of government divisions alongside BAE Systems, Leonardo S.p.A., MBDA and Rolls-Royce that would be developing a new design of fighter aircraft with £2 billion (US$2.6 billion) in funding, by 2025.Britain reveals combat air strategy alongside new Tempest fighter jet design, Beth Stevenson, DefenseNews, 2018-07-16 This will develop new technologies and means of production under the Future Combat Air System Technology Initiative (FCAS TI). In December 2022, the United Kingdom, Japan and Italy announced that they would merge their sixth-generation fighter projects forming the Global Combat Air Programme, with the fighter entering service from 2035.
The 2026 defence investment plan announced the investment of £8.6 billion into the multinational Global Combat Air Programme for the development of a next generation combat aircraft. An additional £300 million would also be allocated the for development of collaborative combat aircraft to operate alongside the aircraft. At the same time, the previously envisaged "future combat air system" seemed unlikely to move forward.
Intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance
Wedgetail
In 2018, the RAF announced plans to upgrade its airborne early warning facility. Initially this was planned as an upgrade of the E-3D Sentry fleet, which would mirror the Sentry Block 40/45 upgrade undertaken by the USAF, and subsequently fitted to the Sentry fleet of the Armée de l'Air in France. However, owing to the significant cost of such a project, estimated at approximately £2 billion, it was thought that it would be more cost-effective to procure a new system instead. Although there were calls for an open competition to select the new platform, most notably from a partnership between Airbus and Saab, which would feature the Swedish company's Erieye radar system combined with an Airbus aircraft, the Ministry of Defence was announced as being in talks with Boeing over procuring its E-7 Wedgetail aircraft.
To this end, in August 2018 the RAF began sending personnel to Australia to undergo training on the E-7, which was already in service with the RAAF. The potential selection of the E-7 was seen as advantageous in part due to its level of commonality with the P-8 Poseidon, which the RAF had selected as its new maritime patrol aircraft, as well as enabling greater co-operation with the RAAF. In October 2018, Gavin Williamson, announced that the Government had begun negotiations with Boeing, having determined that the E-7 "represents the best value for money option for the UK against need". A deal was signed in March 2019 that will see the RAF procure five E-7 aircraft for approximately £1.5bn.