Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral contribution of 4 June 2025, Official Report, column 338, whether (a) his Department and (b) any F-35 partner nation requested a (i) discussion and (ii) technical assessment of the international humanitarian law implications of any foreign military sales customer's F-35 use at an F-35 Joint Executive Steering Board meeting in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Conversations with F-35 Partners occur regularly and cover a range of issues; however, I am unable to disclose details of confidential conversations held within an international programme.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral contribution of 4 June 2025, Official Report, column 338, whether his Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of suspending a foreign military sales customer who is not a partner nation from the F-35 global supply pool on the continued operation of the F-35 programme.
Answered by Maria Eagle
All F-35 Foreign Military Sales customers are managed directly by the US Government.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his oral contribution of 4 June 2025, Official Report, column 338, whether (a) his Department and (b) any F-35 partner nation requested a (i) policy and (ii) technical working group review of export licenses for any foreign military sales customer's F-35 use in the last 12 months.
Answered by Maria Eagle
Further to the oral contribution of 4 June 2025 by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for the Middle East (Hamish Falconer) conversations with F-35 Partners occur regularly and cover a range of issues; however, I am unable to disclose details of confidential conversations held within an international programme. Export control measures are the responsibility of their relevant national authorities.
Asked by: Andy McDonald (Labour - Middlesbrough and Thornaby East)
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, if he will make it his policy to negotiate an end-use agreement with F-35 programme supply chain and electronic stockpile management system counterparts to end the re-export of F-35s to Israel.
Answered by Luke Pollard - Minister of State (Ministry of Defence)
The UK Government has made an amendment to the F-35 Open General Export Licence (F-35 OGEL) in relation to F-35 items manufactured in the UK, which now cannot be directly exported to Israel. The US Government manages the sale of F-35 aircraft to Israel and the F-35 Global Supply Chain.