{"id":50650,"date":"2014-11-24T15:26:38","date_gmt":"2014-11-24T15:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=ba2bca1aa054a8f509c79be777bff2bd"},"modified":"2014-11-24T15:26:38","modified_gmt":"2014-11-24T15:26:38","slug":"news-story-contract-signed-for-first-production-batch-of-f-35b-aircraft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=50650","title":{"rendered":"News story: Contract signed for first production batch of F-35B aircraft"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The Ministry of Defence (<abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MOD<\/abbr>) has signed a contract for the first production batch of 4 Lightning II stealth combat aircraft \u2013 which will operate from both the Royal Navy\u2019s new aircraft carriers and Royal Air Force (<abbr title=\"Royal Air Force\">RAF<\/abbr>) land bases.<\/p>\n<p>The contract for the F-35B aircraft forms part of the <abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MOD<\/abbr>\u2019s investment in Lightning II over the next 5 years to procure an initial 14 of these multi-role fifth generation aircraft, as well as putting in place the necessary support arrangements and infrastructure. <\/p>\n<p>Further contracts will cover the procurement of a range of equipment such as engines.<\/p>\n<p>Minister for Defence Equipment Support and Technology, Philip Dunne, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Looking to the future, the investment we are making in the F-35 aircraft will ensure we are securing the skies for decades to come, providing the UK with the latest stealth technology and multi-role aircraft capability.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Not only does our investment in these next generation aircraft afford us air superiority, but the UK\u2019s tier one status in the entire programme provides UK industry with a unique opportunity to produce world-leading products, technologies and manufacturing expertise for coming decades. The aircraft will be a powerful testament to the strength and capability of British industry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p class=\"last-child\">In addition, with the aircraft being supported and operated from <abbr title=\"Royal Air Force\">RAF<\/abbr> Marham, this will create job opportunities for the local community, as well as maintaining its key role as an <abbr title=\"Royal Air Force\">RAF<\/abbr> operating and engineering sustainment base which will support the military and civilian workforce for years to come.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The news comes as a UK test team has completed initial aircraft handling trials for <abbr title=\"Advanced short range air-to-air missile\">ASRAAM<\/abbr> and Paveway IV on the F-35B aircraft. <\/p>\n<p>Trial rounds, which are identical to the operational weapons, were tested for the first time during a series of flights from the US Navy\u2019s test facility at Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland.<\/p>\n<p>These initial tests are an important step in integrating weapons onto the F-35B, allowing test pilots to understand how they affect the way the aircraft performs and handles.<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft are short take off and vertical landing (<abbr title=\"Short take off and vertical landing\">STOVL<\/abbr>) and feature the latest stealth capabilities alongside intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition and reconnaissance (<abbr title=\"Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance\">ISTAR<\/abbr>) technology.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ministry of Defence has signed the contract to order 4 Lightning II combat aircraft.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50650"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50650"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50650\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50650"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50650"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50650"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}