British Government Under Pressure to Choose Eurofighter Over F-35 For Next Fighter Procurement

<p >The British government is expected to soon announce its decision on the procurement of new fighter aircraft for the country’s armed forces, and has faced growing pressure from local unions to select the older fourth generation Eurofighter Typhoon over the more advanced fifth generation F-35A produced primarily in the United States. Although Britain was a partner in both programs, its share in the Eurofighter program was considerably larger, and with a much greater portion of the Eurofighter being built in the United Kingdom the benefits for local industry of acquiring the aircraft are assessed to be greater. The local Unite union in particular has stressed that continued orders for the Eurofighter are crucial for safeguarding British industrial expertise, and paving the way for production of a next generation fighter currently being developed under the Tempest program. According to the union, the lack of further orders for the ageing Eurofighter would threatens Britain’s already limited fighter industrial base, including the jobs of 6,500 BAE Systems employees involved in the program. The Eurofighter program has suffered<a href=" > multiple successive losses</a> in tenders across the continent when bidding against the F-35 for major contracts, with major recent losses having included <a href=" >Belgium</a>, Poland, <a href=" >Finland</a> and <a href=" >Switzerland</a> and the Czech Republic, which were all considered leading potential clients for the aircraft. All selected the F-35 due to its significantly superior fifth generation capabilities. </p><p ><img src=" title="British Royal Navy F-35B During Vertical Landing"></p><p >Despite the F-35 having repeatedly demonstrated tremendous superiority in its combat performance over European aircraft, a leading argument for procuring the Eurofighter is that it will retain commonality with the Royal Air Force’s already large fleet of the aircraft. By contrast, the possibility of F-35A fighters being procured for the Royal Air Force would introduce a new fighter class into the inventory, since the United Kingdom was previously the only client for the F-35 to have exclusively ordered the F-35B variant designed for short takeoffs and vertical landings. The F-35A is not only significantly more capable, with an ability to carry 50 percent more air to air missiles and a much longer range and superior flight performance than the F-35B, but it is also over 30 percent less costly to procure. British industry, however, contributes much more to the production of the F-35B than it does to that of the F-35A, while high levels of maintenance commonality initially planned under the F-35 program were never realised, which are both factors that may disincline the British Armed Forces from order F-35As. While Britain was the sole Tier One partner in the F-35 program, it was still reduced to a still very junior role compared to the United States with only a small fraction of the investments and technological contributions. An order for 24 F-35As is thus only expected to create two to three months of work for approximately 2,000 workers in the country. By contrast, an order for 24 Eurofighters is expected to sustain 26,000 jobs over two years across BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo, and a wider national supply chain.</p><p ><img src=" title="Eurofighter (front) and F-35s"></p><p >Unconfirmed <a href=" target="_blank">reports</a> in November 2024 indicated that a decision had been reached by the British Ministry of Defence to procure the F-35 rather than the Eurofighter, with an unnamed British official speaking to local media outlet Jane’s stating regarding planned purchases: "We have a foot in both [the F-35 and Eurofighter] camps, and for the RAF [Royal Air Force] I very much see that the F-35 is where we are looking at to add combat mass. We are committed to an onward buy [of the F-35], so that is where we are looking." Other than a small sale of 12 fighters to Austria in the 2000s, the Eurofighter program has failed to gain any contracts outside the Gulf region, where political factors are considered a <a href=" target="_blank">primary influence </a>on defence procurement deals. The fighter program has increasingly struggled due to a lack of orders from outside the four partner countries the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain and Italy. The program’s issues are set to continue to worsen as countries across the Western world <a href=" >lean towards the F-35</a> over European rivals, while even Germany itself under a new administration in 2022 also unprecedentedly <a href=" >committed to F-35 purchases, </a>despite prior administrations being highly protective of the Eurofighter and facing significant pressure from German unions not to procure American fighters. </p>